Patients receive daily injections to treat mpox at the Kavumu hospital in Kabare territory, Democratic Republic of Congo, on 3 September Image: Arlette Bashizi/Bloomberg

Africa CDC endorses first locally made mpox diagnostic test

The illness has killed more than 1 000 people in Africa in 2024.

14 Nov 2024, 07:35 by Janice Kew, Bloomberg · Moneyweb

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has approved the first locally-made diagnostic test for mpox, as the agency aims to stem outbreaks of the lethal disease on the continent.

Testing for the illness that has killed more than 1 000 people in Africa this year is insufficient and improving surveillance to limit contagion is crucial. The diagnostic tool is a real-time polymerase chain reaction test made by Moldiag.

The detection kit of the Rabat, Morocco-based company was recommended by the agency’s diagnostic advisory committee, an independent committee of 15 African experts. It shows the test’s reliability and efficacy and may boost Morocco’s role in global health initiatives, Africa CDC said in a statement.

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The center called the explosion of the virus a continent-wide public health emergency in August, and the World Health Organization followed by declaring it an international health emergency.

Even though Africa is the only region where the disease is endemic, it didn’t get vaccines for the virus in 2022 as a less virulent version of the infectious illness spread around the world.

This echoed what happened during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Africa CDC calling for more vaccines, tests and therapeutics to be made locally to help be better prepared.

Less than half of suspected cases have been tested, even as confirmed numbers have already climbed almost fivefold so far this year compared with all of 2023.

But Africa CDC and the WHO are trying to process more tests by improving transportation to centralized laboratories, and ensuring diagnosis can be done in the field by trained locals.

Getting good-quality rapid tests will also improve diagnostic rates because these can be used in remoter locations. The WHO recently authorized a second test for emergency-use.

“This major milestone is in line with the African Union’s continental effort to strengthen the self-sufficiency of African public health systems,” Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said.

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