Good morning. A new, deadlier strain of the mpox virus is spreading at alarming rates across Africa – more on that below, along with fears of retaliation from Iran and a run of Banksy murals. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Wildfire forces 1,800 residents in a Saskatchewan First Nation community to evacuate
- Ukraine pounds Russia with drones and says it is advancing deeper
- After a 25-year fight, the Philippines is close to stamping out malaria once and for all
Checking for mpox at a treatment centre in the DRC.Arlette Bashizi/Reuters
Health
A mutated virus runs rampant
In overcrowded hospitals across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where staff and supplies are already stretched thin by past outbreaks of Ebola and Covid, newborn babies as young as two weeks old are catching a mutated strain of the deadly mpox virus. It’s the biggest eruption ever recorded of the disease, which causes lesions, rashes and fever: So far this year, there have been nearly 15,000 cases of mpox in DRC, which exceeds the total for all of 2023. That’s also unquestionably a severe undercount. As The Globe’s Africa Bureau Chief, Geoffrey York, reports, limited testing and surveillance mean a large percentage of suspected cases are never confirmed.
At least 511 people have died from mpox this year in DRC, more than half of them children under five years old. Health centres are taking in far more patients than they have the capacity to see – in cities such as Goma, roughly 4,000 per cent more. And while the vast majority of mpox cases have been recorded in DRC, the outbreak recently spread to 17 other African countries.
That’s why, yesterday, Africa’s top public health body declared a public health emergency of continental security. “Families have been torn apart and the pain and suffering have touched every corner of our continent,” Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said. “This declaration is not merely a formality, it is a clarion call to action.”
The impact in Toronto
Two years ago, outbreaks of mpox – then known as monkeypox – reached more than 100 countries, including Canada, and prompted the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency. Those cases mostly spread among men who have sex with men, and surveillance along with vaccines helped end the emergency 10 months later. Yesterday, however, Toronto Public Health once again urged eligible residents to get vaccinated against mpox. After an infection spike this summer, 93 cases have been confirmed in the city as of July 31, up from 21 this time last year.
The Africa CDC says it needs 10 million doses of the mpox vaccine.Jeenah Moon/The Associated Press
It’s unclear if these new cases in Toronto were caused by a type of the virus called clade II, which fuelled the 2022 outbreak. Clade II is a milder strain, largely spread through sexual contact and usually cleared up in two to four weeks. The current DRC outbreak, on the other hand, is a mutated form of clade 1 mpox, and that’s what has the Africa CDC so concerned. This clade 1 variant spreads more easily through routine close contact – including from mothers to babies – and has a much higher death rate, especially in children, where it’s around 10 per cent.
Part of the challenge with diagnosis is that the symptoms of mpox – skin rash and lesions, fever, fatigue – look a lot like the signs of common childhood infections, including scabies and chickenpox. That can result in delayed treatment, more severe outcomes and further transmission. In DRC, years of conflict and hunger have made conditions worse: There are more than 350,000 internally displaced children in just three camps around Goma, according to Save the Children, with limited access to clear water, health care and food. “The deadly mpox can zip from tent to tent,” the organization said.
The vaccine problem
By declaring its first-ever public health emergency, the Africa CDC will help affected countries co-ordinate their response, increase their surveillance and hopefully ramp up the flow of aid and medical supplies. But mostly, these countries need mpox vaccines – at least 10 million doses of them, across a continent where only 200,000 are currently available. The head of the Africa CDC said yesterday he’d secure three million doses before the end of the year. He didn’t say where those vaccines would be coming from.
As The Globe’s Geoffrey York reported this week, it’s unlikely to be Canada. Our public health agency is believed to have stockpiled millions of doses of a smallpox vaccine, which is one of two vaccines approved to fight mpox. But health officials say there’s no plan in place to provide any of Canada’s vaccines to other countries – and they can’t do so unless the Public Health Agency of Canada declares a vaccine surplus, which hasn’t happened yet.
“It’s disheartening,” Fatima Hassan, a South African human-rights lawyer and founder of the Health Justice Initiative, told The Globe. “Should Canada be sharing? Yes, they should. They probably won’t. Their self-interest and nationalism will prevail.”
The Shot
Two elephants, then three monkeys, then one gorilla setting a sea lion free
Lifting the shutters of the London Zoo.Hollie Adams/Reuters
Nine animal-themed artworks have popped up in as many days across London, England, courtesy of Banksy, whose run of murals included a pair of pelicans chowing down at a fish-and-chips shop and a lone wolf howling at the moon (well, at a satellite dish). Read more here.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: MPs on the House of Commons’s public safety committee voted unanimously to investigate how the father and son charged in an alleged terror plot were admitted to Canada.
Abroad: Iran says that only a ceasefire deal in Gaza would stop it from retaliating against Israel for the killing in Tehran of a Hamas leader late last month – but Hamas won’t join new ceasefire talks.
The Hammer: As more people in Hamilton, Ont., experience homelessness, the city is looking to build up sanctioned outdoor housing – including small cabins and tiny homes.
The grammar: A battle is brewing among apostrophe nerds: Is it Kamala Harris’ campaign? Or Harris’s campaign? Now add in a Walz and folks are getting properly possessive.