First mpox diagnostic test made in Africa approved by CDC authorities there
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Testing for mpox, which has killed more than 1,000 people in Africa in 2024, is insufficient, and improving surveillance to limit contagion is crucial.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MOROCCO – The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved the first diagnostic test for mpox made in Africa, 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 in 2024 is insufficient, and improving surveillance to limit contagion is crucial. The diagnostic tool is a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test made by Moldiag.
The detection kit of the company – based in the Moroccan capital of Rabat – 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.
“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.
The centre called the explosion of the virus a continent-wide public health emergency in August, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) then declared it an international health emergency.
Even though Africa is the only region where the disease is endemic, it did not 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 the continent be better prepared.
Less than half of suspected mpox cases have been tested, even as confirmed numbers have already climbed almost fivefold so far in 2024, compared with all of 2023.
Africa CDC and WHO are trying to process more tests by improving transportation to centralised 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 more remote locations.
WHO has listed three PCR kits for emergency use. While the Moroccan test is not yet one of these, Africa CDC recommends member states use test kits on its shortlist “whether it is approved by WHO or not”, spokeswoman Margaret Muigai Edwin said in an e-mailed response to questions. BLOOMBERG
