This is a situation that should concern all of us.
Por segunda vez en dos años, la Organización Mundial de la Salud ha elevado el mpox al nivel más alto de alarma sanitaria global, reconociendo que una variante más letal y contagiosa, surgida en la República Democrática del Congo, ha rebasado las capacidades de contención regional. Detrás de los números —38.465 casos, 1.456 muertes, un aumento del 160% en 2024— hay comunidades enteras enfrentando un virus que ha cambiado de forma y de alcance. La declaración no detiene la enfermedad, pero abre puertas: fondos de emergencia, coordinación internacional, y la atención del mundo sobre una crisis que África ya venía enfrentando sola.
- Una nueva variante del mpox, el clado Ib, se propaga desde el Congo con una tasa de mortalidad del 3.6% y erupciones que cubren todo el cuerpo, señales de un virus más agresivo que el de 2022.
- Los casos en África aumentaron un 160% en 2024, y 16 países del continente ya registran contagios, poniendo en evidencia que los sistemas de salud locales están siendo desbordados.
- La Unión Africana activó su propia alerta máxima un día antes que la OMS, subrayando que el continente no enfrenta una sola epidemia sino varias, con patrones de transmisión distintos en cada región.
- La declaración de emergencia internacional le permite a la OMS movilizar fondos para diagnóstico, vacunación y tratamiento, aunque expertos advierten que traducir esa declaración en acción sobre el terreno será profundamente difícil.
- El verdadero peso de la respuesta recae sobre los trabajadores de salud y gobiernos africanos, que operan con infraestructuras frágiles mientras el virus acelera su expansión.
El miércoles, el director general de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, anunció que el mpox volvía a ser declarado emergencia de salud pública de importancia internacional —la categoría de mayor gravedad en el sistema de alertas globales. Un comité de emergencia lo había recomendado por unanimidad, y Tedros aceptó sin dudarlo. "Esta es una situación que debería preocuparnos a todos", dijo con tono grave.
La amenaza esta vez es distinta a la del brote de 2022. El virus que circula ahora proviene de la República Democrática del Congo y pertenece al clado I y su subvariante Ib, más letal y contagioso que la cepa anterior. Mientras los brotes pasados generaban erupciones localizadas, el clado Ib las extiende por todo el cuerpo, lo que facilita su transmisión por contacto físico cercano. La tasa de mortalidad alcanza el 3.6%.
Desde enero de 2022, África ha registrado 38.465 casos en 16 países y 1.456 muertes. Pero lo que encendió las alarmas del comité fue la velocidad: los casos crecieron un 160% en 2024 respecto al año anterior. La Unión Africana ya había activado su propia alerta máxima el día previo, reconociendo que el continente enfrenta no una sino varias epidemias simultáneas, cada una con sus propias dinámicas.
Tedros fue claro sobre la complejidad del desafío: distintos clados, distintos países, distintos modos de transmisión. La declaración de emergencia no es una solución —es un instrumento. Permite a la OMS acceder a fondos de emergencia y coordinar una respuesta más amplia en diagnóstico, vacunación y tratamiento. La viróloga Arion Koopmans, de la Universidad Erasmus de Rotterdam, valoró el paso pero advirtió: "No será fácil".
El mpox no es nuevo en África —fue identificado por primera vez en humanos en 1970 en lo que hoy es el Congo. Pero esta variante llega a una región con sistemas de salud frágiles y capacidad diagnóstica limitada. La declaración de la OMS pone los ojos del mundo sobre la crisis. El trabajo real, sin embargo —vacunar, tratar, contener— depende de quienes ya están en el terreno, donde el virus avanza más rápido que nunca.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization activated its highest level of alarm. The director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that an emergency committee had unanimously recommended declaring mpox a public health emergency of international concern—a designation that places the disease alongside the most serious threats to global health. Tedros accepted the recommendation without hesitation. "This is a situation that should concern all of us," he said at a press conference, his tone measured but grave.
The decision came after months of escalating cases across Africa, where a new and more dangerous variant of the virus has been spreading. Unlike the 2022 outbreak, which the WHO had also declared an emergency, this current wave originates from the Democratic Republic of Congo and is driven by clade I and its even more lethal subvariant, clade Ib. The mortality rate stands at 3.6 percent. The virus itself has changed in character: where previous strains produced localized rashes on the face, mouth, or genitals, clade Ib triggers eruptions across the entire body, making it more visibly apparent and potentially more transmissible through close physical contact.
The numbers tell a stark story. Since January 2022, African nations have documented 38,465 cases across 16 countries. Of those, 1,456 people have died. But the trajectory is what alarmed the emergency committee most: cases surged 160 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year. The African Union's health agency had already sounded its own maximum alert just the day before the WHO's announcement, recognizing that the continent was facing not one epidemic but several, each with different transmission patterns and risk profiles across different populations and geographies.
Tedros emphasized the complexity of the challenge ahead. "We are facing multiple epidemics with different clades in different countries, with different modes of transmission and different levels of risk," he explained. The emergency declaration itself is not a cure; it is a tool. By elevating mpox to this status, the WHO gains access to emergency funding streams and can coordinate a more aggressive international response. Arion Koopmans, a virologist at Erasmus University Rotterdam, noted that the declaration would enable the organization to mobilize resources for diagnostic capacity, public health response, treatment support, and vaccination campaigns. But she offered a sobering caveat: "This will not be easy."
Mpox is not new to Africa. The virus was first identified in humans in 1970 in what was then Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. For decades, it circulated primarily through contact with infected animals. The disease spreads from animals to humans, but once a person is infected, it can transmit through close physical contact with another infected person. The 2022 outbreak, caused by clade IIb, had spread globally but remained manageable. This variant is different—more contagious, more severe, and already entrenched in a region with limited diagnostic infrastructure and fragile health systems. The WHO's emergency declaration signals that the world is now watching, and resources are being mobilized. But the real work—the unglamorous, difficult work of testing, treating, vaccinating, and containing—falls to the health workers and governments on the ground in Africa, where the virus is already spreading faster than it did a year ago.
Notable Quotes
We are facing multiple epidemics with different clades in different countries, with different modes of transmission and different levels of risk.— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general
This will not be easy.— Arion Koopmans, virologist at Erasmus University Rotterdam, on implementing the emergency response
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did the WHO wait until now to declare this an emergency? They'd already seen mpox before.
The 2022 outbreak was serious, but this is different. The new variant—clade Ib—is more contagious and kills at a higher rate. The 160 percent jump in cases in a single year was the signal that this wasn't the same disease anymore.
What does the emergency declaration actually do? Does it stop the virus?
No. It unlocks funding and coordination. The WHO can now move money faster, align countries on response strategies, and push resources toward diagnostics and vaccines. But the declaration is permission to act, not action itself.
You mentioned the rashes are different now. Why does that matter?
Because visibility changes transmission. A localized rash on someone's genitals might go unnoticed or be hidden. Full-body eruptions are harder to miss and harder to conceal. That changes how people interact, how they seek care, how the virus spreads.
Is Africa unprepared for this?
Not unprepared—under-resourced. The continent has dealt with outbreaks before. But 38,000 cases and 1,400 deaths across 16 countries in two years, with the pace accelerating, is a lot for health systems that were already stretched thin.
What happens next?
The hard part. Vaccination campaigns, rapid testing, isolation of cases, contact tracing. All of it requires money, trained people, and trust in communities that have sometimes been let down by their governments. The declaration gives them the tools. Whether they can deploy them fast enough is the real question.