Korede Abdullah in Lagos
The Gambia has confirmed an outbreak of mpox following the detection of a single case last Friday, marking the virus’s re-emergence in a country where it was not in circulation.
“A case of mpox has been detected in the country through the routine surveillance system,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday, stressing that “the detection of a single case in a country where mpox is not presently in circulation constitutes an outbreak, requiring immediate response.”
To curb the spread, Gambian health officials are actively conducting contact tracing and engaging communities to raise awareness about the disease, which is caused by a virus related to smallpox and can spread through close physical contact.
“Sequencing is being carried out to determine the virus subtype in The Gambia,” the ministry added, noting that mpox can cause fever, muscle aches, and severe skin lesions and may be fatal in some cases.
The outbreak comes amid a wider surge in mpox infections across West and Central Africa. From January to late May, Sierra Leone reported 3,350 cases and 16 deaths, while Liberia had 71 active cases in early June.
The Republic of Guinea recently disclosed that its cases have surpassed 200 since last September, and thousands more have been reported this year in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Burundi, prompting the World Health Organisation to maintain mpox’s status as an international health emergency.
Mpox is a viral disease first detected in humans in 1970 that spreads through contact with infected animals or close physical contact between people.
