Mpox outbreak in Africa is no longer a global health emergency, WHO
chief says
[September 06, 2025]
JAMEY KEATEN
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization no longer considers the mpox
outbreak in Africa to be an international health emergency, the U.N.
agency's director said Friday.
The new form of mpox emerged in early 2024 in Congo and neighboring
African countries, spread through close contact including sex. WHO
declared it a global health emergency in August of last year.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Friday
that an emergency panel created after the outbreak has advised that the
situation is no longer an international emergency, and “I have accepted
that advice.”
The international emergency declaration, the agency’s highest level of
warning about threatening health issues, triggers the release of
resources and enhanced public awareness campaigns, among other measures.
“Of course, lifting the emergency declaration does not mean the threat
is over, nor that our response will stop,” the WHO chief said.
Mpox — formerly known as monkeypox — is a rare disease caused by
infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes
smallpox.
It is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected
through bites from rodents or small animals. Milder symptoms can include
fever, chills and body aches. In more serious cases, people can develop
lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.
There are different versions of the virus.
One version — called clade II — was the source of an international
health crisis in 2022, when cases escalated rapidly in dozens of
countries, spreading mostly among men who have sex with men. At one
point in the U.S., an average of close to 500 cases were reported each
day.
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The infections were rarely fatal, but many people suffered painful skin
lesions for weeks. Those outbreaks waned later that year.
The other version — known as clade I — is spread through close contact,
including through sex, and is deadlier. A newer form of the clade 1
virus has been widely transmitted in eastern and central Africa, with
the bulk of the cases in Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, leading to last year's WHO declaration.
Cases were identified in travelers outside of the continent, but that
spread has been more limited.
The U.S., for example, has reported five cases of this version of mpox,
in people who had recently traveled to affected areas in Africa. The
cases were not linked, and no additional spread of mpox has been
reported, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Tedros said the decision to end the emergency followed improved public
health measures and sustained declines in case counts.
Increased testing was a big factor, said Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a Nigerian
infectious diseases specialist who chairs the WHO emergency committee.
“Many countries have improved their ability to diagnose,” allowing them
to identify cases and reduce spread, he said.
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Stobbe reported from New York.
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