Addis Ababa, May 31
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) called for aggressive efforts to control mpox in southern Ethiopia to avert possible cross-border spread.
The East African country reported its first mpox case on May 25 when a 21-day-old infant tested positive in Moyale near the Kenyan border.
On Friday, the Ethiopian Ministry of Health announced that the number of cases has now reached six as three new cases were confirmed.
During an online media briefing on Thursday evening, Ngashi Ngongo, chief of staff and head of the Executive Office at Africa CDC, expressed concern due to Moyale town's close proximity to neighbouring Somalia.
"The proximity to Somalia, and knowing all the challenges in Somalia, makes it so that we really need to be very bold and aggressive to control this outbreak from the source so that it does not expand from the region," he said.
Meanwhile, Ngongo said that the African continent has reported 139,233 mpox cases since the start of last year. Of these, 34,824 were confirmed and about 1,788 related deaths were recorded, news agency reported.
According to the World Health Organisation, Mpox is an infectious disease that can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, result in fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain and low energy. Most people fully recover, but some get very sick.