Nearly 92,000 mpox cases identified worldwide since January 2022, WHO says

Over 660 mpox cases were recorded worldwide in October 2023, while the total number of cases identified since the start of 2022 has exceeded 91,700, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement, Report informs via TASS.

"From January 1, 2022, through October 31, 2023, a cumulative total of 91,788 laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox, including 167 deaths, have been reported to WHO from 116 countries/territories/areas," the statement reads.

"A total of 668 new cases were reported in October, a 23% decline from the number of new cases reported during the previous month. Most cases during the last month were reported from the Western Pacific Region (30%) and the European Region (25%)," the WHO added.

According to the WHO, "as of October 31, 2023, the ten countries that have reported the highest cumulative number of cases globally are the United States of America (30,771), Brazil (10,967), Spain (7,647), France (4,161), Colombia (4,090), Mexico (4,065), the United Kingdom (3,820), Peru (3,812), Germany (3,757), and China (1,935)." "Together, these countries account for 81.7% of the cases reported globally," the statement specified. As many as 96,3% of cases with available data are male, aged between 29 and 41 years.

The WHO ended a ten-month-long global health emergency for mpox in May 2023 amid a decline in new cases.

Mpox is a rare viral infection that occurs primarily in remote tropical rainforest areas of central and western Africa. According to the WHO, the virus is transmitted to humans via animals such as rodents and monkeys, while human-to-human transmission is limited. The case fatality ratio of mpox ranges from 1% to 10% with most deaths reported in younger age groups.