Sierra Leone’s National Public Health Agency (NPHA) and Ministry of Health (MoH) have announced the country’s first case of Mpox since the World Health Organization (WHO) labeled it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in August 2024.
The case was confirmed on January 10, 2025, at the 34 Infectious Disease Laboratory. The patient, a 27-year-old man from the Western Area Rural District, tested positive, prompting the NPHA and MoH to activate the incident command system to manage the outbreak.
Mpox is a contagious illness causing a painful rash, swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, muscle and back pain, and fatigue. Most recover, but some can be severely ill.
The WHO has declared Mpox a public health emergency of international concern twice, initially in May 2022 and subsequently in August 2024. From January 2022 to August 2024, over 120 countries have reported Mpox cases, with more than 100,000 laboratory-confirmed cases and over 220 deaths among these confirmed cases
