The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared on Thursday the end of a two-year monkeypox epidemic that is believed to have caused more than 2,200 deaths in the country.
Health Minister Roger Kamba told reporters that the government had concluded the epidemic was over and no longer constituted a national emergency.
The DRC, a vast country in Central Africa, was at the heart of an outbreak of this contagious viral disease that spread to neighboring countries in 2024 and led the World Health Organization to declare it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern as it crossed borders. The WHO lifted this emergency declaration in September.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there were more than 161,000 suspected cases of measles in Congo during the epidemic between 2024 and this year, of which approximately 37,000 were confirmed by tests.
Monkeypox
The Africa CDC reported that there had been 2,286 suspected deaths, but only 127 had been confirmed by tests.
Monkeypox , also known as mpox , was first identified by scientists in 1958 during outbreaks of a smallpox-like disease in monkeys. Until a few years ago, most human cases involved people in Central and West Africa who had been in close contact with infected animals.
In 2022, it was confirmed for the first time that the virus was transmitted sexually , causing outbreaks in more than 70 countries that had not previously reported any cases of monkeypox.
According to the WHO, the most common symptoms of monkeypox are skin rashes and fever, but the disease can sometimes lead to serious complications. Most people recover completely.
