CARPHA Advises Region to Be Cautious of Mpox After WHO Declares Public Health Emergency

August 20, 2024 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declared M-pox, or Monkeypox, as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on August 14th, 2024, due to an upsurge of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring African countries. In a statement, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) noted that this was the highest level of global alert, which underscores the potential threat the Monkeypox virus poses to countries around the world.

This is the second declaration of the global alert in two years concerning M-pox. CARPHA noted that the current outbreak is caused by clade I, explaining that it is more transmissible and causes more severe illness. They said that presently, there are no cases of clade I M-pox reported in the Caribbean and its neighboring countries such as the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Latin America. However, CARPHA noted that there is a limited amount of travelers and no direct commercial flights from the Democratic Republic of Congo or its neighboring countries to the Caribbean.