Neither case had known recent contact with infected animals or other sick individuals, the health ministry said. Only the first case involved recent travel, limited to the airport town of Lungi in the northern Port Loko District between December 26 and January 6. Both patients are receiving treatment at a hospital in the capital, Freetown.
Also Read: Mpox Outbreak — why it’s the right time to initiate vaccine production under BioE3 and Bio-RIDE
Mpox, also known as monkeypox, was first identified by scientists in 1958 when outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in monkeys occurred. Until recently, most human cases were seen in people in central and West Africa who had close contact with infected animals.
In 2022, the virus was confirmed to spread via sexual intercourse for the first time and triggered outbreaks in more than 70 countries across the world that had not previously reported Mpox. The Congo has borne the brunt of the epidemic, with a vast majority of the roughly 43,000 suspected cases and 1,000 deaths in Africa this year.
Also Read: Morocco produces Africa’s first mpox testing kits as continent tries to rely less on imports
Sierra Leone was previously the epicentre of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the deadliest in history. The outbreak, primarily concentrated in West Africa, affected Sierra Leone the most, with nearly 4,000 deaths out of the more than 11,000 recorded globally. The country also lost 7% of its healthcare workforce to the outbreak.
