2024-10-04 10:36:55
Mpox cases continue to spread in Africa and are also reaching Europe. If sick people could be identified more quickly and reliably, infections could be contained. WHO announces that a new test from the USA should now help.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted emergency approval for an Mpox test for the first time. This allows UN organizations to do so Test by the US company Abbott Molecular to distribute it in the affected countries and regions. With the test the Mpox virus can be detected more quickly and easily than before.
If more people were tested for the virus, measures could be implemented more quickly to contain the spread, he said WHO. Mpox disease was formerly called monkeypox. According to the WHO, three other companies have submitted requests for emergency approval.
More than 30,000 suspected cases of Mpox have been reported in Africa this year, most of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The number has recently increased significantly in neighboring countries such as Burundi. However, only in one in three cases is a sample sent to the laboratory where the virus can be detected.
The WHO declared Mpox at the highest alert level in August, a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC). The goal is to raise awareness of the emergency and mobilize more resources to fight the epidemic. In Europe, where epidemics were well controlled in 2022, the risk of Mpox spreading again is considered low.
WHO may grant emergency use listing if regulators have not yet commented. Among other things, it checks the safety and effectiveness of drugs and diagnostics, as well as the quality of manufacturing. In the EU, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is responsible for approvals. Countries that do not have their own authority rely on WHO qualification.
dpa/wb
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