Dubai Telegraph - Mpox epicentre DRC set to receive first vaccines to contain outbreak

EUR -
AED 3.938479
AFN 73.284283
ALL 98.19234
AMD 417.267449
ANG 1.943348
AOA 978.447316
ARS 1071.53141
AUD 1.629089
AWG 1.930079
AZN 1.82711
BAM 1.955647
BBD 2.17713
BDT 128.849948
BGN 1.955747
BHD 0.406468
BIF 3183.551653
BMD 1.072266
BND 1.425189
BOB 7.467417
BRL 6.152562
BSD 1.078316
BTN 90.972903
BWP 14.300884
BYN 3.528725
BYR 21016.42052
BZD 2.17343
CAD 1.49386
CDF 3073.115756
CHF 0.939162
CLF 0.03726
CLP 1028.119797
CNY 7.698019
CNH 7.63378
COP 4640.937963
CRC 551.556973
CUC 1.072266
CUP 28.415058
CVE 110.256399
CZK 25.259812
DJF 192.015021
DKK 7.459869
DOP 64.934934
DZD 142.958848
EGP 52.835878
ERN 16.083995
ETB 133.503285
FJD 2.399951
FKP 0.820465
GBP 0.830088
GEL 2.916983
GGP 0.820465
GHS 17.683621
GIP 0.820465
GMD 76.671173
GNF 9295.27488
GTQ 8.33535
GYD 225.592402
HKD 8.336174
HNL 27.205878
HRK 7.386875
HTG 141.888931
HUF 407.236454
IDR 16786.168917
ILS 4.020796
IMP 0.820465
INR 90.481213
IQD 1412.489812
IRR 45134.375558
ISK 148.766647
JEP 0.820465
JMD 171.076654
JOD 0.760348
JPY 163.686863
KES 139.08915
KGS 92.433433
KHR 4378.658423
KMF 493.644665
KPW 965.039476
KRW 1499.246878
KWD 0.328832
KYD 0.89853
KZT 530.808592
LAK 23665.153893
LBP 96559.167469
LKR 315.465391
LRD 204.33406
LSL 18.869628
LTL 3.166124
LVL 0.648604
LYD 5.232592
MAD 10.648369
MDL 19.338491
MGA 4988.610841
MKD 61.5252
MMK 3482.679288
MNT 3643.561097
MOP 8.633826
MRU 42.957649
MUR 49.75717
MVR 16.566921
MWK 1869.754141
MXN 21.634265
MYR 4.699212
MZN 68.521819
NAD 18.869628
NGN 1788.626462
NIO 39.676905
NOK 11.794827
NPR 145.556645
NZD 1.797446
OMR 0.412628
PAB 1.078316
PEN 4.044584
PGK 4.328662
PHP 62.679371
PKR 299.424042
PLN 4.325898
PYG 8431.342275
QAR 3.931893
RON 4.977143
RSD 116.980874
RUB 104.99181
RWF 1478.084695
SAR 4.02742
SBD 8.943509
SCR 14.390377
SDG 644.972153
SEK 11.594849
SGD 1.4214
SHP 0.820465
SLE 24.501684
SLL 22484.885861
SOS 616.251927
SRD 37.497551
STD 22193.748611
SVC 9.435264
SYP 2694.101668
SZL 18.864528
THB 36.687634
TJS 11.462006
TMT 3.763655
TND 3.347839
TOP 2.511359
TRY 36.822021
TTD 7.327428
TWD 34.580984
TZS 2878.975413
UAH 44.514627
UGX 3946.692121
USD 1.072266
UYU 45.046486
UZS 13787.924411
VEF 3884341.194834
VES 47.874003
VND 27101.532073
VUV 127.301648
WST 3.003615
XAF 655.905833
XAG 0.031788
XAU 0.000394
XCD 2.897854
XDR 0.808437
XOF 655.905833
XPF 119.331742
YER 267.878982
ZAR 19.79817
ZMK 9651.687743
ZMW 29.35571
ZWL 345.269328
  • RBGPF

    61.4000

    61.4

    +100%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    13.53

    +1.18%

  • SCS

    0.0600

    13.14

    +0.46%

  • BCC

    1.4700

    142.32

    +1.03%

  • RELX

    0.3200

    47.98

    +0.67%

  • NGG

    -0.3600

    63.94

    -0.56%

  • BCE

    0.3000

    28.37

    +1.06%

  • RIO

    -3.0400

    64.43

    -4.72%

  • RYCEF

    0.0100

    7.15

    +0.14%

  • CMSC

    0.1600

    24.84

    +0.64%

  • CMSD

    0.2350

    25.125

    +0.94%

  • VOD

    -0.0100

    9.31

    -0.11%

  • GSK

    -0.3700

    36.29

    -1.02%

  • AZN

    -0.2000

    64.49

    -0.31%

  • BP

    -0.8800

    28.93

    -3.04%

  • BTI

    -0.0100

    35.39

    -0.03%

Mpox epicentre DRC set to receive first vaccines to contain outbreak
Mpox epicentre DRC set to receive first vaccines to contain outbreak / Photo: Tchandrou NITANGA - AFP/File

Mpox epicentre DRC set to receive first vaccines to contain outbreak

The Democratic Republic of Congo was Thursday awaiting almost 100,000 mpox vaccine doses from the European Union, with 200,000 due to arrive by the end of the week.

Text size:

The doses left the Danish capital Copenhagen on Wednesday evening.

DRC is at the epicentre of an mpox outbreak with more than 19,000 cases and over 650 deaths, according to the latest figures from the health minister.

Mpox is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

Sometimes deadly it causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

"It shows the solidarity between the European Union with Africa and also our capacity to react quickly," Laurent Muschel head of the EU's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) told AFP.

The remainder of the 200,000 doses donated by the EU are set to arrive in Kinshasa on Saturday.

The World Health Organization declared an international emergency on August 14, concerned by the surge in cases of the new Clade 1b strain in the DRC that spread to nearby countries.

Muschel said 560,000 doses will be given by the EU and some of its member states to the DRC and other affected countries.

Mpox is now present in 13 African countries, including Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville and the Central African Republic, according to the Africa CDC.

The vaccines arriving in the DRC this week come from the Danish pharmaceutical laboratory Bavarian Nordic.

It is the only vaccine approved in Europe and the United States and is only intended for adults.

- Logistical challenge -

Trials are currently being conducted for potential use on children over the age of 12.

Another mpox vaccine is authorised in Japan, which has promised a significant number of doses to DRC.

Some 3.6 million mpox vaccine doses have been secured for African countries, according to the Africa CDC, with the DRC, by far the most affected country in the world, being a priority for international health authorities.

Sixty two percent of the mpox cases in DRC have been registered in children, according to the Africa CDC, who also account for four out of five deaths.

According to international health authorities, Kinshasa plans to start its vaccination campaign as early as October.

But DRC will face a major logistical challenge in a territory four times the size of France with poor roads, shambolic infrastructure and erratic power supplies.

The Danish vaccine must also be stored in special conditions, "at minus 20°C, the temperature of a freezer," Muschel said.

Several mpox epidemics are present in central Africa.

The 2022 epidemic was caused by Clade 2 which is still circulating in many countries, including in the West.

But the epidemic in the DRC is caused by the Clade 1 strain, and the situation is becoming more complicated with the appearance of a new version of this subgroup, variant 1b.

The danger and level of contagion of the variant are difficult to assess, according to several specialists.

According to the WHO, cases due to Clade 1b have increased rapidly over the past several weeks but "relatively few deaths have been reported".

Formerly called monkeypox, the virus was discovered in 1958 in Denmark in monkeys kept for research.

It was first discovered in humans in 1970 in Zaire, the former name of DRC.

A.El-Ahbaby--DT