WHO may declare new, deadlier mpox outbreak an international emergency

A 3D digital rendering showing the molecular structure of the monkeypox virus against a dark background.

A growing outbreak of mpox in Africa may soon prompt the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern.

So far, the multinational outbreak has been concentrated mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has reported more than 14,000 cases of mpox this year, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference Wednesday (Aug. 7).