The Chinese mainland reported 106 monkeypox (mpox) infections between June 2 and June 30, according to a report released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) on July 14.
The southern province of Guangdong reported 48 cases, while Beijing reported 45. The remaining cases were detected in the Jiangsu, Hubei, Shandong, and Zhejiang provinces. No severe cases or deaths were reported, it added.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report that from January 1, 2022 to July 18, 2023, 113 member states across all six WHO regions reported a total of 88,503 laboratory-confirmed mpox cases and 1,084 probable cases, including 150 deaths. The number of confirmed cases in the Region of the Americas was the highest, reaching 59,638 cases.
The high-incidence period of the mpox varied in different regions of the world. The WHO report showed that August 2022 had a high incidence of mpox in Region of the Americas, the European region and the African region. The confirmed cases of mpox in the Region of Americas peaked at 4,919 between August 15 and 21 in 2022, and the confirmed cases in the European region and the African region peaked at 2,723 and 112, respectively, between August 8 and 14 in 2022.
Among 81,524 confirmed cases with available data, 96.3 percent were male, and the median age was 34, the WHO report said. It also mentioned that, among 31,030 cases with known data on sexual orientation, 84.1 percent identified as men who have sex with men.
Symptoms of mpox can include a rash, spots, swollen lymph glands, fever, headache and muscle aches. The illness typically lasts two to four weeks. Sometimes, people get a rash first, followed by other symptoms. Others only experience a rash. According to the advice on mpox from the WHO, it is important to avoid close physical contact with sick people, avoid animals when traveling and wash your hands often with soap and water.
"The majority of cases were found among men who have sex with men, suggesting the virus is mainly transmitted through homosexual contact," according to June 2023 mpox outbreak report released by China CDC on July 14. "The risk of infection through other contact is low, and most nonsexual close contacts have not been infected."
The WHO declared the current mpox outbreak a global public health emergency in July 2022 but lifted the designation in May.
"Compared to the transmission of COVID-19, influenza, and other respiratory diseases, the spread of the mpox virus is slow. There will likely be isolated clusters of infection, but the possibility of widespread infection is low," said Shi Guoqing, deputy director of China CDC's emergency operations center.
Data editor: Sun Yiwen
Graphics designer: Mukesh Mohanan