Map of suspected mpox cases

SPREAD OF DISEASE DECLARED EMERGENCY FOR 'ENTIRE GLOBE'

- HELENA VESTY AND RICHARD AULT

MPOX has been declared an international emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO) - and our map shows the suspected cases in Greater Manchester.

An upsurge of cases of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other African nations represents a 'public health emergency of international concern: according to WHO. That is the same classilication used in the past for Covid-19, Ebola outbreaks and the 2022 outbreak of mpox in Europe.

Professor Dimie Ogoina, chair of WHO's Emergency Committee, said the rise in cases - along with the spread of a new sexually transmissible strain of the mpox virus 'is an emergency, not only for Africa, but for the entire globef There are broadly two different strains of mpox, known as 'cladesf Clade I, the strain currently sweeping across Africa, is considered the more dangerous.

No cases of the clade I strain of mpox have yet been found in the UK.