North African nation confirms first mpox case
Morocco has reported its first confirmed case of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, in the city of Marrakesh, a local news agency reported on Friday, citing the Health Ministry. The case involves a man who is currently receiving treatment and is in stable condition, though the authorities have not yet disclosed which clade of the virus he carries.
It follows a recent surge in cases across multiple African nations, which led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare mpox a public health emergency of international concern, similar to how it approached Covid-19 in 2020.
The Moroccan authorities are tracing and monitoring individuals who had contact with the infected man, and none have shown symptoms so far.
Mpox was first identified in 1958 among laboratory monkeys in Denmark, with human cases recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The disease spread rapidly in late 2022, prompting the WHO to rename it mpox to avoid stigmatizing language.
The DR Congo remains the epicenter of the latest outbreak, accounting for most of the 37,500 infections and 1,451 deaths as of July 28, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The virus has since spread to 15 African nations.
The WHO has identified two distinct clades of the mpox virus – clade I, with subclades Ia and Ib, and clade II, with subclades IIa and IIb. The global outbreak of clade IIb, which began in 2022, continues to spread in various parts of the world, including African nations. At the same time, growing outbreaks of clades Ia and Ib have been reported, particularly affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other African countries. Notably, clade Ib was detected beyond Africa as of August 2024, raising concerns about its further spread.
On Friday, in response to the growing threat, the WHO approved Bavarian Nordic’s mpox vaccine, the first such vaccine cleared by the agency.
“This first prequalification of a vaccine against mpox is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreaks in Africa, and in future,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Bavarian Nordic announced it could deliver up to 50 million doses over the next 12-18 months, in addition to the 13 million doses planned through 2025.
On August 31, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in partnership with the Gavi vaccine alliance, Africa CDC, the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO, and other partners, launched an emergency tender to secure mpox vaccines, aiming for agreements that could provide up to 12 million doses through 2025.
