Countries should act faster to curb the spread of mpox

Last week the World Health Organisation declared mpox a “public-health emergency of international concern”. This designation speeds up the release of funds and helps make more vaccines available. However, more resources and effort will be needed. More than 17,000 people, mostly in Congo, are thought to have had mpox since January. At least 500 have died. Estimating the lethality of the new strain is hard, because many cases go unnoticed or unreported. Experts believe that between 1.4% and 10% of those infected have died of it, with children likeliest to succumb. However, survival rates may prove higher outside Congo, an exceptionally poor and violent country where many children have immune systems weakened by deprivation.