Africa CDC Is Concerned About Monkeypox Outbreak In Europe

The African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has stated that monkeypox outbreaks have been seen and contained on the continent ever since 2020.

On Thursday, Mr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, the acting director of the Africa CDC, pointed out that the monkeypox outbreaks were contained in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

“During this pandemic, we have had several outbreaks of monkeypox on the continent … We also expect that other outbreaks will come and we’ll handle it in the usual way. We are however concerned at the multiple countries outside, especially in Europe, that are seeing these outbreaks of monkeypox. It would be very useful for knowledge to be shared regarding what the source of these outbreaks actually are.”

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Mr. Ouma gave comments on this situation as the United Kingdom recently confirmed a case of the rare and sometimes fatal animal-borne disease. According to Mr. Ouma, the Africa CDC was collaborating with its European counterparts to investigate the cause of the outbreaks.

“…Because when you see monkeypox in environments that are far away from a forested area then for sure as far as public health is concerned it raises a lot of questions.”

On the 7th of May, the British health authorities had informed the World Health Organisation of a confirmed monkeypox case in an individual who had recently returned to the country from Nigeria.