The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the limited testing capacity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicenter of the ongoing mpox international emergency.
The UN health agency revealed in its latest situation report that testing coverage in the DRC remains low, hindering efforts to accurately track the spread of the virus.
This has resulted in a significant number of suspected cases going untested, making it difficult to assess the true extent of the outbreak.
Despite the challenges, the WHO reported a case fatality ratio of 0.5 percent among confirmed cases in the DRC for 2024.
However, this figure rises to 3.3 percent when considering both confirmed and suspected cases.
The limited access to laboratory testing in remote areas has contributed to the low testing rate, with only 40 percent of suspected cases being tested in 2024.
The DRC continues to report the highest number of suspected cases, followed by Burundi and Nigeria. While the overall number of cases in these countries has increased, the fatality rates remain relatively low.
The WHO emphasized the importance of tailored and locally-adapted outbreak responses due to the different clades and subclades of mpox circulating in various geographic areas.
The agency also highlighted the limited sequencing capacity in the DRC, which could be hindering the identification of broader clade distribution.
In terms of vaccine availability, the WHO announced that over 3.6 million doses have been pledged for the global response.
European countries, the United States, and manufacturer Bavarian Nordic have contributed over 620,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine, while Japan has pledged three million doses of the LC16 vaccine.