WHO declares end to mpox emergency, though scientists warn of potential for 'resurgence'

After the World Health Organization (WHO) opted to end COVID-19's designation as a global public health emergency last week, the organization declared an end to another emergency on Thursday: mpox, the painful, potentially deadly disease formerly known as monkeypox.

A separate group of scientists for the health agency signalled that the global outbreak is now under control.

But while mpox may have faded from the headlines — and from public consciousness — experts say there's still cause for concern if countries scale back surveillance and vaccination efforts at a time when the virus remains in global circulation.

"When case counts started declining, especially in the global north, people gradually became disinterested in the outbreak," said physician-scientist Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a professor of medicine at Niger Delta University, who was among the first clinicians to raise alarms about the sudden, unusual spread of mpox in Nigeria six years ago, before it exploded globally.

"And the fear is that we are reverting back to where we were 50 years ago."

Turning off the spotlight on this virus may leave the world vulnerable to a "resurgence," particularly as more people travel through the spring and summer, warned Ogoina, who is also involved in the WHO's emergency committee on mpox. 

Before the committee's Wednesday decision, he told CBC News he personally felt it would be premature to end the emergency declaration, despite a global drop in cases.

"​​What happened [last] May to July can repeat itself," he warned.

WATCH | What it's like to recover from mpox:

There have been 87,000 known infections and 140 deaths reported from more than 100 countries — largely through sexual networks, and primarily impacting men who have sex with men — since mpox first developed a foothold outside its endemic regions of Africa last summer.

That spike in cases was short-lived and tapered off last fall, and there were 90 per cent fewer cases reported in the last three months compared to the three months before, WHO data shows. 

"Due to global mobilization and the rapid response of most countries, we now see steady progress in controlling this outbreak," said WHO director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in video remarks on Wednesday.

But those gains haven't been felt equally.