New Delhi: India has reported 27 confirmed Mpox cases from January 1, 2022, till June 30 this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday. The WHO, however, said that the current reported global data most likely underestimate the actual number of Mpox cases.
In June 2024, a total of 934 new laboratory-confirmed cases of Mpox and four deaths were reported to WHO from 26 countries, illustrating the continuing transmission of Mpox across the world.
"The most affected WHO regions, ordered by number of laboratory-confirmed cases, were the African Region (567 cases), the Region of the Americas (175 cases), the European Region (100 cases), the Western Pacific Region (81 cases) and the South-East Asia Region (11 cases). The Eastern Mediterranean region did not report cases in June 2024. As reporting from countries to WHO has been declining, the current reported global data most likely underestimate the actual number of Mpox cases," the WHO said in its latest report on multi-country outbreaks of Mpox.
From 1 January 2022 through 30 June 2024, a cumulative total of 99 176 laboratory-confirmed cases of Mpox, including 208 deaths, were reported to WHO from 1162 countries/territories/areas in all six WHO Regions.
A total of 934 new cases were reported in June 2024. For the second month in a row, most cases in June 2024 were reported from the African Region (61%), followed by the Region of the Americas (19%), and the European Region (11%).
In the Southeast Asia region, amongst the five member countries, Thailand reported 805 confirmed cases and 10 deaths, followed by 88 confirmed cases in Indonesia, 27 confirmed cases and 1 death in India, Sri Lanka 4 and Nepal 1.
"Reporting to WHO has been declining, therefore, the recent trends in reported cases should be interpreted with caution. WHO continues to encourage all countries to ensure that Mpox is a notifiable disease and to report Mpox cases, including reporting when no cases have been detected. This report does not highlight non-reporting countries. Therefore, it should be noted that an absence of reported cases from a country may be due to the country not reporting, rather than having no cases," the global health watchdog said.
Key Epidemiological Findings
Globally, 96.4% (87 189 of 90 410 cases) of confirmed cases with available data are male, with a median age of 34 years. The age and sex distribution of cases remain stable over time, especially outside the African Region, as males from 18 – 44 years of age continue to be disproportionately affected by this outbreak and account for 79.4% of reported cases. No case-based data has been shared on the recent significant increase in cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo yet, and the above summary does not reflect these new cases.
Among modes of transmission, sexual contact is the most commonly reported (19102 of 22801 cases, 83.8%), followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact. This pattern has persisted over the last six months, with 95.6% (483 of 505 cases) of new cases reporting sexual contact. Available information suggests modes of transmission in the African Region are more diverse including human-to-human transmission due to different types of physical or close direct or indirect contact and, in some settings, also zoonotic exposure.
