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Recently, the Secretary-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that it has decided to upgrade the monkeypox virus outbreak in Africa to a "public health emergency of international concern." This is the second time since July 2022 that the WHO has issued the highest level of warning under the International Health Regulations regarding the monkeypox outbreak.

Currently, the area with the most serious monkeypox epidemic is Congo, which accounts for about 96% of the cases. More than 17,000 suspected cases and more than 500 deaths have been registered this year, an increase of 160% over the same period last year.

What is the difference between this year's monkeypox outbreak and that of 2022, and why did the World Health Organization issue the highest alert?

There are two main types of monkeypox virus, type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is mainly prevalent in Central Africa and the Congo Basin. Patients are generally seriously ill with high fever, large rash and other complications. For people who have not been vaccinated, the mortality rate can be as high as 10%, mainly children. The epidemic is mainly spread by contact with infected wild animals and close contact between people. Often one person is infected and then infects the whole family after returning home.

The type 2 strain was prevalent in 2022. Type 2 is mainly prevalent in western Africa. The symptoms are much milder than type 1, and the mortality rate is much lower, less than 1%. At that time, there were sporadic cases not only in Africa, but also all over the world, including Europe, the United States, and China. The infected people were mainly concentrated in the gay community, so most people just listened to it and passed it over as it had nothing to do with them, without causing too much panic.