Mpox rises in China
Mpox infections are steadily rising in China. For the week ending July 21, 117 cases were confirmed in China, according to data from the World Health Organization. Between the week ending May 5 and the week ending July 21, 315 cases were reported.
Further, China had the highest increase in the weekly number of cases during the most recent week of full reporting, the global health agency said. Cases have risen more than 50% over the last three weeks.
How mpox started
The global mpox outbreak began in the United Kingdom in spring 2022. Further, it spread throughout Europe and, eventually, to the U.S. At this time, China still had COVID restrictions in place with little travel allowed in and out of the country.
The mpox outbreak, previously called monkeypox, was primarily concentrated among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, can contract the virus.
How US handled mpox
After an overwhelming rise in cases in the US, the outbreak was controlled by the combination of people changing their behaviors and a strong vaccination campaign, according to public health experts.
Rise of mpox in Asia
The WHO declared the mpox public health emergency over in May 2023. However, that's just when cases began rising in Asia, including Japan, Thailand and, most recently, China.
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Lack of urgency in China
Dr. Peter-Chin Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News, that there's been a lack of urgency to combat mpox outbreak in China, despite the rise in cases. The Chinese CDC only posted a program to prevent and control the spread on July 26, which made mention of a public education program but not of a vaccine campaign, Dr. Hong explained.
What it means for the rest of the world
"We should care because with these transmissible diseases and globalization of infectious diseases, what happens in China doesn't only stay in China, even though sure [mpox] is less transmissible," Dr. Hong said. "So, it can easily find to many places around the world again, and lead to secondary outbreaks. So, anything happening in China, with the world open up again, can affect even more rapidly, other countries."
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