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Nearly 6,000 cases of monkeypox recorded in 2022 in the DRC
CDN MARCH 2, 2023 HEALTH
Kinshasa, 01 March 2023 (ACP). – The Democratic Republic of the Congo recorded, in 2022, 5,740 (five thousand seven hundred and forty) cases of monkey pox or Monkeypox, including 230 deaths, indicates the annual report of the epidemiological surveillance directorate of the general directorate for the fight against disease from the Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Prevention received by the ACP on Wednesday.
“Twenty out of twenty-six provinces were affected. The provinces of Tshopo, Sankuru, Kasai, Tshuapa, Maniema and Equateur reported a large number of cases compared to others,” the report said.
The DRC remains an endemic country where several outbreaks are functional. This disease remains confined to the forest zone of the central basin of the country.
The same report underlines that several challenges must be met, in particular the case-by-case surveillance which is not operational, the laboratory confirmation rate which remains low and the inputs for case management or sampling which are almost non-existent. .
Several actions were also carried out in 2022, including the investigation of cases of the disease in certain provinces of the country.
Monkey pox or Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease (transmitted from humans to animals and vice versa), caused by a virus called "simian orthopoxvirus".
ACP/ KHM
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Translation Google
In Africa's monkeypox outbreak, disease and death go unnoticed
31/10/2022 | 08:14
In a village clinic in central Congo, separated from the world by a tangle of rivers and forests, six-year-old Angelika Lifafu clutches her dress and screams as nurses in protective suits dig into one of the hundreds of boils clouding her delicate skin.
Her uncle, 12-year-old Lisungi Lifafu, sits at the foot of her bed, looking away from the sunlight streaming through the doorway and glaring into her swollen, watery eyes. When the nurses approach, he lifts his chin, but cannot look up.
The children have monkeypox, a disease first detected in Congo 50 years ago but whose cases have spiked in West and Central Africa since 2019. The disease has received little attention until what it is spreading around the world this year, infecting 77,000 people.
Global health bodies have counted far fewer cases in Africa during the current outbreak than in Europe and the United States, which scrambled for limited vaccines this year when the disease arrived on their shores.
But the outbreak, and the death toll, in Congo could be much larger than recorded in official statistics, according to a Reuters report, largely because testing in underserved rural areas is so limited and effective drugs are not available.
During a six-day trip to the remote Tshopo region this month, Reuters reporters found about 20 monkeypox patients, two of whom had died, whose cases had no recorded before the reporters' visit. None of them, including Angelika and Lisungi, had access to vaccines or antiviral drugs.
Lack of testing facilities and poor transport links make tracing the virus nearly impossible, more than a dozen health workers have said.
Asked about the undercount, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledged that its data did not capture the full scale of the outbreak.
In the West, only a dozen people have died of monkeypox this year, according to US CDC figures. Europe and the United States have been able to vaccinate communities at risk. Suspected cases are systematically tested, isolated and treated quickly, which improves survival rates, experts say. The number of cases in Europe and the United States has stabilized and started to decline.
But in poorer African countries where many people do not have quick access to health facilities or are unaware of the dangers, more than 130 people have died, almost all of them in Congo, according to the Africa CDC.
No monkeypox vaccine is publicly available in Africa.
Without treatment, Angelika and Lisungi can only wait for the disease to run its course. Ahead of them are a myriad of possible outcomes, including recovery, blindness or, as was the case for one family member in August, death.
"These children have a disease that makes them suffer so much," said Litumbe Lifafu, Lisungi's father, at the clinic in Yalolia, a village of mud huts scattered 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from the capital Kinshasa.
"We demand that the government provide medicine for us poor farmers and the vaccine to fight this disease."
THE STORY REPEATS ITSELF
Last year, the World Health Organization denounced the "moral failure" of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when African nations found themselves at the tail end of the queue for vaccines, tests and treatments.
But those failures are being repeated a year later with monkeypox, said health workers consulted by Reuters. This risks causing future outbreaks of the disease in Africa and around the world, experts said.
While sudden demand from Western countries has sucked up available vaccines, poor countries like Congo, where the disease has existed long enough to be endemic, have been slow to request supplies from WHO and its partners.
Congo's health minister, Jean-Jacques Mbungani, told Reuters that Congo was in talks with the WHO to buy vaccines, but no official request had been made. A spokesperson for Gavi, the vaccine alliance, said it had not received requests from African countries where the virus is endemic.
A WHO spokeswoman said that with no vaccines available, countries should instead focus on surveillance and contact tracing.
"History is repeating itself," said Professor Dimie Ogoina, President of the Independent Nigerian Society for Infectious Diseases. Time and time again, he said, disease containment in Africa does not get the funding it needs until wealthier nations are at risk.
"It happened with HIV, it happened with Ebola and with COVID-19, and it's happening again with monkeypox."
Without adequate resources, it is impossible to know the true spread of the virus, he said, along with other experts.
“In Africa, we are working blind,” Mr. Ogoina said. "The number of cases is grossly underestimated."
Monkeypox is transmitted through close contact with skin lesions. For the most part, it resolves within a few weeks. Young children and immunocompromised people are particularly vulnerable to serious complications.
The Africa CDC says Congo has recorded more than 4,000 suspected and confirmed cases and 154 deaths this year, based in part on data from health authorities. This figure is much lower than the approximately 27,000 cases recorded in the United States and 7,000 in Spain. African nations experiencing outbreaks include Ghana, where there are around 600 suspected and confirmed cases, and Nigeria, where there are nearly 2,000 cases.
"Yes, there is an undercount," said Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Africa CDC's acting director. "Communities where monkeypox is spreading generally do not have access to regular health facilities." He said the CDC could not currently say the extent of the undercount.
Congo's health minister, Mr Mbungani, said testing capacity was lacking outside Kinshasa, but he did not respond to a request for comment on the missed cases.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Ubangi
Translation Google
Sud-Ubangi: Monkeypox disease "already under control" in the Bulu health zone (Provincial Minister of Health)
The Monkeypox disease or even monkey pox declared in the Bulu health zone, precisely in the Mbako health area in the province of Sud-Ubangi "is already under control".
It was Malachie Adugbia Likundu, provincial minister of health in this part of the Democratic Republic of Congo who made this known in an interview with 7SUR7.CD this Thursday, September 22, 2022.
He specifies that it has been more than 3 weeks since any new case of Monkeypox has been recorded in the health area of Mbako where the disease was declared.
Provisions have been made to prevent the spread of this disease, says the aforementioned ministerial authority, which refers in particular to raising public awareness of strict compliance with "hygiene measures" and the exhortation not to consume "animals found dead in the forest” often thought to carry the virus and transmit it to humans.
It appears from a dispatch from the Bulu health zone consulted by 7SUR7.CD this same Thursday that there were a total of 7 notified cases including one death linked to this disease in the region.
“There have been a total of 7 notified cases including one death. The investigation is done, the sample already taken and sent to the INRB through the PEV antenna. Contingency measures are taken. And at this stage the situation seems to be under control because there are no more cases [Editor's note: for] 3 consecutive weeks , ”reads this dispatch from the Bulu health zone.
The Bulu health zone, where Monkeypox or Monkeypox is rife, is located in the Mongala-Kuma sector in Budjala territory in the province of Sud-Ubangi in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
César Augustin Mokano Zawa, in Gemena
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Kwilu: Monkey pox outbreak kills 3 in Lusanga health zone
Posted on Tue, 09/13/2022 - 15:59 | Modified on Tue, 09/13/2022 - 15:59
The health zone of Lusanga located in the territory of Bulungu (Kwilu) has been affected by the Monkey pox epidemic for more than two weeks. Three cases are recorded and all three patients have died, said Tuesday, September 13 the provincial Minister of Health of Kwilu, Dr Bena Mutuy.
Among these three deaths, only one case was confirmed by the INRB after the analyses. The other two people did not consult medical training and died in the community, after showing the same clinical signs.
“Indeed in the Lusanga health zone, there were three deaths including two community deaths in the Kisongo health area, Kiongo Fioti village. These first two deaths, they are community deaths, the health zone was not even informed of that, they are indexed cases who had just stayed in the Mosango health zone, where there was also an epidemic of Monkey pox . These two cases went unnoticed. But it is the last case that consulted the Kwenge reference health center a little late. It came in poor condition ,” explains Dr. Bena Mutuy.
“We had taken the sample, we sent it to the INRB which returned the results. The zone chief doctor went to the field, I am waiting for the report to go and investigate at the level of the various surrounding villages if there are other cases in relation to Monkey pox” , added the provincial Minister of Health of Kwilu.
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Translation Google
DRC: 754 cases of measles and 46 of Monkey Pox notified to Sankuru
Wednesday, August 31, 2022 - 12:14 p.m.
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The province of Sankuru notified, during the week of August 15 to 21 (epidemiological week 33),...
“We have recorded 46 cases and 3 deaths from monkeypox, representing a lethality of 6.5%. The health zones that have more notifications are Bena Dibele, Fudiloto and Lomela,” said the provincial division head doctor.
Faced with this epidemic, the provincial health division of Sankuru is raising awareness among the population to adopt responsible behavior through local media and community radio stations.
The DPS also organizes focus groups with opinion leaders, youth associations, and women, in particular to remind the population not to consume the meat of an animal found dead in the forest.
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Translation Google
DRC: 3 deaths and 69 new cases of monkey pox recorded in Sankuru
Friday August 12, 2022 - 08:45
NEWS.CD
Dr. Aimé Alengo, chief medical officer of the provincial health division of Sankuru confirmed to ACTUALITE.CD that his province recorded, during the last week, 69 cases and 3 deaths of Monkey Pox (Monkey Pox) .
“The epidemiological situation is always determined in terms of morbidity and mortality from malaria. We recorded 69 cases and 3 deaths of Monkey pox for epidemiological week 31. The dominant health zone is Bena Dibela. Response activities are underway, particularly with sensitization,” he told ACTUALITE.CD.
Monkey Pox is a viral zoonosis, that is, it is transmitted to humans by animals. The disease is transmitted by eating animals found dead in the forest.
This disease is present in other provinces of the country including Maniema, Kwango, Kwilu, Mai-Ndombe, Mongala, Tshuapa, Bas-Uélé and Equateur. On July 23, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, classified monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (USPPI).
Therese Ntumba
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Translation Google
DRC: the only confirmed case of monkey pox in Kwango has died
Tuesday August 9, 2022 - 12:04
NEWS.CD
The province of Kwango has recorded since almost two weeks its first case of Monkeypox (monkey pox) confirmed by the INRB in the territory of Feshi, village of Kolokoso.
The approximately 24-year-old patient presented with fever, rash and muscle aches. The epidemiologist doctor of the Kwango provincial health division, Dr François Mwakisenda, specifies that this case has died since July 18 and all the contact cases have not yet shown signs of the disease.
"There was one case confirmed by the INRB. This is a patient of about 24 years old who was consulted for fever, rash and then for muscle pain...There is had a joint DPS and INRB team, who went to investigate to collect the samples and the case was confirmed three days later. We made the list of all the contacts; fortunately for us, no contact developed the signs So far we have only had this one case, which died on the night of July 18,” François Mwakisenda told ACTUALITE.CD.
This patient had confirmed, before his death, that he had eaten the meat of the game he had captured while working in the fields, and which showed skin rashes.
In addition to the province of Kwango, Monkeypox is also notified in the provinces of Maniema, Kwilu, Sankuru, Mai-Ndombe, Mongala, Tshuapa, Bas-Uélé and Equateur.
On July 23, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, classified monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (USPPI).
Jonathan MESA, in Bandundu
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WEEKLY BULLETIN ON OUTBREAKS
AND OTHER EMERGENCIES
Week 31: 25 - 31 July 2022
Data as reported by: 17:00; 31 July 2022
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All events currently being monitored by WHO AFRO
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Democratic Republic of the Congo
Monkeypox Grade 3
Date notified to WCO 30-Mar-19
Start of reporting period 01-Jan-22
End of reporting period 28-Jul-22
Total cases 2 266
Cases Confirmed 163
Deaths 0
CFR 0.0%
From 1 January – 28 July 2022, the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported 2 266 suspected including 163 confirmed cases from 116 health zones across 20 provinces. The most affected provinces in 2022 are Sankuru, Tshopo, Maniema, Tshuapa and Sud-Ubangi. At least 163 of the cases sampled were confirmed positive for monkeypox virus infection.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mai-Ndombe_Province
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Translation Google
Mai-Ndombe: 114 cases including 5 deaths due to monkeypox recorded since the beginning of the year
Friday, July 22, 2022 - 4:00 p.m.
The province of Maï-Ndombe is strongly affected by the Monkeypox epidemic (Monkey pox) which has caused 5 deaths among the 114 cases confirmed since the beginning of 2022. 8 health zones are affected out of the 14 that account the province. The age of the affected begins at age 15.
The head of the provincial health division Dr. Faustin Bekonda justifies this contamination by contact with sick animals often slaughtered by hunters in this province surrounded by forests.
“Indeed, the province of Maï-Ndombe is affected by cases of Monkeypox. From the second epidemiological week to the twenty-seventh week, the province recorded 114 cases against 5 deaths, representing a fatality rate of 7%. 8 health zones have been affected out of the 14 we have in the province. As we have large forests, we have a lot of game and contamination is easy once the game we have is sick, indeed by touching it we are contaminated”, says Dr. Faustin Bekonda in an interview with ACTUALITE.CD.
He specifies that "it is a disease that has been raging for a few years already, it is not the first time in this province".
He invites the population to respect barrier gestures and to avoid touching an animal with rashes, better to refer to health structures for treatment in the event of symptoms.
“We recommend barrier measures. If you have an animal on which you see lesions like that, skin rashes, so much better not to touch it and even in family, in our households. You have a child, a woman, a man who has lesions similar to smallpox, skin rashes, it is better to arrange for the nursing staff to take care of it instead of directly contaminating others because s 'there are no barrier measures, the disease is very contagious”, advises Dr Faustin Bekonda.
The province of Maï-Ndombe is close to the Grand Équateur and has the equatorial forest, in particular going towards the territory of Kiri.
Jonathan MESA, in Bandundu
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Translation Google
Maniema: around 3,000 children targeted in an emergency medical project in Tunda
Published on Thu, 14/07/2022 - 19:21 | Edited on Thu, 07/14/2022 - 19:34
About 3,000 children are targeted in a medical project, launched Wednesday, July 13, in the health zone of Tunda (Maniema).
According to its coordinator, De Drissa Sangare, this six-month project will take care of children under 5 years old with combined pathologies.
Entitled "Emergency medical response to the Monkeypox epidemic and primary health care" , it consists of providing medicines, care, medical inputs to health centers but also the referral of patients.
Executed by the NGO Alima in three health areas of the Tunda health zone, this project also aims to improve access to health care for the case of Monkey pox.
For his part, the head doctor of the Tunda health zone, Dr Yemba Unda, welcomed the advent of this project in his zone which, according to him, is recording more cases of deaths due to Monkeypox.
But he did not specify the exact number of victims of this pathology.
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Monkeypox: ban on eating meat from domestic animals in Masimanimba
Published on Fri, 08/07/2022 - 13:54 | Modified on Fri, 08/07/2022 - 13:54
The Kwilu Provincial Minister of Health, Bena Mutuyi, prohibits the consumption of meat from domestic animals such as sheep and other rodents in the Masimanimba health zone.
He justifies this decision by the discovery a few days ago of clinical signs of ''Monkey Pox'' disease in a sheep, at the Padimba health area located nearly 65 km from the city of Masimanimba.
This health zone in the province of Kwilu is currently affected by the Monkeypox epidemic in several territories, in particular that of Masimanimba.
For the provincial minister in charge of health of Kwilu, the consumption of mutton and other domestic animals is prohibited until further notice. The decision is to protect against Monkeypox.
“You know Monkeypox, studies show that it's small rodents like squirrels that can be the transmissible agent of this disease in humans. So, now that we think we have detected a case of sheep with signs of Monkeypox,” said Dr. Bena Mutuy.
He also asked the local population “to avoid consuming all rodents first, I also believe even domestic animals such as sheep, mainly sheep as we have just incriminated sheep. Avoid consuming them in this health area and throughout the Masimanimba health zone. »
The outbreak of monkeypox is manifested in particular by rashes concentrating more on the face and extremities such as the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands.
Kwilu province is affected by the Monkeypox epidemic. It has, to date, three confirmed cases and ten suspected cases, according to provincial minister Bena Mutuy.
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Source: https://www.radiookapi.net/2022/06/1...ox-masimanimba
Kwilu: a first confirmed case of Monkeypox disease in Masimanimba
Published on Sat, 11/06/2022 - 17:21 | Modified on Sat, 06/11/2022 - 17:24
The provincial Minister of Health of Kwilu, Dr Bena Mutuyi, announced on Friday June 10 that confirmed cases of Monkeypox or monkeypox are recorded in the territory of Masimanimba and in other territories of his province.
In Masimanimba, the disease was notified a month ago, and in other territories suspected cases are reported.
“Well, the province has so far recorded 7 cases of Monkeypox, including one confirmed case in the Masimanimba health zone, and six suspected cases distributed as follows: the Gungu health zone with one suspected case. Mwanza with one suspected case, Kikongo one suspected case and Mokala with three suspected cases,” the minister detailed.
The patients are placed in isolation and are well taken care of, assured the minister who indicates that contact cases are all well followed.
“The confirmed case in Masimanimba health zone is progressing very well. The patient was isolated, he was treated symptomatically. You know so far the Monkeypox there is no vaccine, so he is fine, the last scabs are falling off. Even the contact cases have been followed up, and so far no contact case has shown signs of the disease,” said Dr Bena Mutuyi.
And to add that the samples of these suspect bags have been sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) for further investigation.
“It is an eruptive disease that manifests as vesicular-papular rashes that will eventually fall off as the disease progresses. There is the fever that accompanies that,” explained Dr Mutuyi.Leave a comment:
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Inside the world’s worst monkeypox outbreak
Experts say the DRC’s outbreak, where ‘hundreds have probably been killed’, demonstrates the global threat posed by the illness
By
Sarah Newey,
GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY CORRESPONDENT and
Will Brown,
AFRICA CORRESPONDENT
30 May 2022 • 2:38pm
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Sankuru, a region in central DRC best-known for its vast rainforests and artisanal diamond mines, is the country’s main hotspot – with close to 500 cases officially reported since January.
“Monkeypox is affecting hundreds of people across the region, especially in the rural health zones in la grande forêt,” Dr Merveille Nkombo, a doctor who has worked on the response in the region, told the Telegraph. “It is an epidemic… so the doctors all know the symbols of monkeypox.”
“The disease is affecting most of the villagers – young and adult people,” added Dr Raphael Okoko, managing physician for the Bena Dibele health zone in the heart of Sankuru. “We are treating them with what we have… we don’t have vaccines.
“The epidemiological situation of the monkeypox is very alarming and remains a deep concern in our health zone,” he told the Telegraph.
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Already, new regions have seen flare ups. While Sankuru is historically the major hotspot, experts are increasingly concerned about a new outbreak in the neighbouring Maniema province, where cases are spiralling.
“The most serious outbreak is in Maniema around Tunda. People do not know how to deal with the disease there,” said Dr Thierry Kalondji from the INRB.
So far, just over 500 cases have been detected in the province – including 425 cases and 50 fatalities in Tunda. But Dr Mbala-Kingebeni warned that many more are “going unreported.”
“Hundreds have probably been killed,” he said. “There is really a huge number of unnoticed cases or suspected deaths.”
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“We always say that monkeypox is a neglected outbreak,” said Dr Folefack. “When you talk about Ebola, there are so many partners involved in the response, but when you talk about monkeypox there are very few who are helping to support the country on this disease.”
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