Sierra Leone is the latest African country to battle an mpox outbreak
Earlier in January, the Ministry of Health of Sierra Leone reported the first mpox case in the country in Freetown.
From January 10 to date, health authorities in the country report 17 cumulative confirmed mpox cases, with 10 patients having recovered. Most cases are males. No deaths have been reported.
Of the few cases tested by genomic sequencing to date, mpox Clade IIb virus has been confirmed.
Of the 16 districts in Sierra Leone, the most confirmed cases have been reported in Western Urban (Freetown) with four, three cases in Tonkolili, and two each in Western Rural, Moyamba, Bombali and Bo districts.
Sierra Leone has activated its National Incident Management System (IMS) to coordinate response to the event. Activities of the national IMS are being coordinated from the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre (PHEOC). These structures are also being activated in the affected districts to coordinate response at the subnational level. An Incident Action Plan to respond has been developed. Additionally, a multidisciplinary rapid response team has been deployed to support response efforts in the affected districts.
Monkeypox Livestream with Rodney Rohde, PhD
Surveillance activities have been enhanced in the affected districts with active case search ongoing in communities and health facilities to detect suspected cases.
Laboratory testing for mpox confirmation continues at public health laboratories, including the 34 Military Hospital, the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory (CPHRL), and the Jui P3 Laboratory.
There are also ongoing activities to raise community awareness and combat misinformation through radio and community outreaches in the Western Area Urban and Western Area Rural districts.
Since the beginning of the year, a total of 640 mpox cases, including 488 lab-confirmed, and four deaths have been reported from six African Union Member States.
