Sierra Leone Declares Public Health Emergency Over Mpox

Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency Monday after the country reported its second case of mpox in less than four days, health authorities said.

Neither patients were known to have been in contact with infected animals or other sick individuals, authorities said, adding that both individuals were receiving treatment at a hospital in the capital, Freetown.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, a global health emergency in August 2024, because of the rapid spread of the new strain of the virus.

The virus causes fevers, headaches and painful boils on the skin. It can spread from person to person through close physical contact, including sexual intercourse.

Congo has borne the brunt of the ongoing outbreak of mpox, with a vast majority of the roughly 43,000 suspected cases and 1,000 deaths across the continent, occurring in the central African country.

The new strain circulating this time has raised concerns because it is believed to transmit more easily than other strains and evidence suggests that it causes a more severe version of the disease.

The strain is different from the kind of mpox that spiked in 2022, which mainly affected men. The WHO declared an emergency at the time and it lasted until mid-2023. Vaccinating vulnerable groups brought it under control.

Sierra Leone was previously the epicenter of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the deadliest in history.