Overview

• Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accepted his emergency committee’s advice and declared on September 5 that mpox no longer constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
• WHO cited steady falls in cases and deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in other affected countries, including Burundi, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
• The agency cautioned that the danger has not ended and emphasized that its response efforts will continue.
• Experts now report a clearer understanding of transmission routes and risk factors, and most affected countries have built more durable response systems.
• The recent epidemiology includes worldwide spread of clade 2b in 2022 and the subsequent emergence of a distinct clade 1b from late 2023.