WHO Declares Global Health Emergency Over Mpox

The recent outbreak of the Clade 1b mpox virus, declared a global health emergency by the WHO, has heightened concerns across East Africa, particularly at the busy Kenya-Uganda border town of Malaba, where increased health screenings have been implemented. Labcorp and other diagnostic firms like Roche and Quest Diagnostics are collaborating with health regulators to ramp up mpox testing capacities, with Labcorp able to scale from 500 to 25,000 tests per month if needed. Germany has pledged to donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses from its military reserves to aid in containing the virus, while efforts are being made to broaden vaccine access globally. The variant has been detected in various countries beyond Africa, including Sweden and Thailand. The increased surveillance and vaccination efforts are crucial as the virus has infected over 19,000 people, primarily in the DRC, and led to more than 500 deaths.