Dear Colleagues and Alliance members,
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of African countries a public health emergency of international concern. This declaration is due to the rapid spread of a virulent strain of mpox, Clade Ib. The development underscores the urgency of addressing emerging zoonotic pathogens, such as mpox and their broader implications for global health security.
To delve into these pressing issues, we are thrilled to invite you to a special issue webinar featuring leading experts in the field of mpox research and response. Featured speakers will be:
- Prof. Dr. Fabian Leendertz, a veterinarian and Professor for One Health, who will present the repeated emergence of monkeypox virus in a wild, human-habituated western chimpanzee population from Taï National Park, Ivory Coast and discuss bushmeat as a potential source for human infections.
- Dr. Kizito Kakule, a veterinarian from the DRC and Executive Director of the national NGO “COPHEGs”, will share on-the-ground insights into the current mpox situation, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for local and international collaboration.
- Dr. Adeyinka Adedeji, a veterinarian from Nigeria and head of the Pox Research Laboratory at NVRI, will provide valuable insights into mpox management within the country, focusing on its connections to bushmeat and the role of wildlife reservoirs in the disease’s ecology and transmission dynamics.
Join us for this in-depth discussion to better understand the evolving mpox landscape and explore strategies for effective control and prevention.
Click here to join the meeting
Prof. Dr. Fabian Leendertz: Monkeypox virus infections in wild non-human primates
Despite the growing importance of monkeypox virus and frequent spillover events to humans, our knowledge on its host spectrum and sylvatic maintenance is limited. In this talk, I will present repeated emergence of monkeypox virus in a wild, human-habituated western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) population from Taï National Park, Ivory Coast. I will present the clinical manifestation as well as detection in non-invasive samples (feces, flies) and discuss sources of infection which may also be relevant in respect to spillovers to humans and links to bushmeat as a potential source for human infections. In this talk I will elaborate on the value of long-term studies to understand the ecology and emergence of zoonotic agents such as monkeypox viruses.
Dr. Kizito Kakule: The evolution of the MPOX outbreak and its contributing factors for spreading in the DRC, the case of North and South Kivu
Mpox is one of the diseases observed since 1958 in the world (on wild animals) but the first case was recorded in humans in the DRC (1970), which gives it the connotation of a “Congolese disease”!
The DRC has experienced many epidemics, almost all of them have their origin on animals (zoonotic) but which, unfortunately, due to the weak application of prevention and control measures, cause enormous loss of human life. In addition, there are other factors favoring and explaining the spread of the outbreak and which pose difficulties for containing the disease, and among these factors we can mention:
- Insecurity (war) causing unstructured movements of populations and living in precarious conditions,
- Low availability of basic infrastructure (roads, water, electricity),
- Low availability of social services (hospitals equipped with laboratories),
- Eating habits (easy handling of wild species animals and consumption of bushmeat),
- Poverty
- Low government involvement (Political willing),
- Weak communication between departments for the implementation of the One-Health approach.
Despite the Congolese government’s declaration of a health emergency due to the Mpox epidemic in the DRC (24 out of 26 provinces) and despite the support of technical and financial partners for the response, the outbreak seems not to be under control and continues to record many new cases and deaths.
According to available statistics, the DRC alone is full of 93% of all recorded cases in the world and including deaths; which shows that efforts must be redoubled, require the involvement of the various stakeholders taking into account the One-Health approach to succeed in controlling and containing this outbreak.
Dr. Adeyinka Adedeji: Animal reservoir status of monkeypox virus and the possible role of bushmeat trade in its spread in Nigeria
Zoonoses such as Mpox are endemic in Nigeria, and the causative agent is the monkeypox virus (MPXV), a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus (OPXV), but putative reservoirs associated with spillover events from animals to humans remain a mystery. Nigeria is a known hub of illegal bushmeat or wildlife trade in Africa and they are widely harvested for food or traditional medicine. A One Health Animal Surveillance Team (AST) has been conducting ecological surveillance since 2018 to provide answers to questions regarding MPXV animal reservoir (s) in country. The surveillance activities involve sampling suspected reservoirs such as rodents and small mammals in communities with confirmed human mpox cases, forested habitats, and peri-urban/urban interfaces, as well as sampling wildlife at bush meat markets. Data based on surveillance activities revealed the presence of antibodies against the generic OPXV in rodents, shrews, and feral cats. At the same time, an investigation of the activities of bushmeat actors revealed two categories of bushmeat markets: wet or fresh bushmeat markets and traditional medicine wildlife body parts markets. Additionally, the bushmeat actors include hunters, traders, zootherapists, processors, and consumers. Although the actors have heard about Mpox, most of them do not know the means of transmission or the symptoms of the disease. Likewise, most actors are unwilling to stop handling or eating bushmeat even if they know it is a means of transmission of pathogens such as MPXV. High-risk practices that were observed and identified as possible drivers of spillover events in the bushmeat trade include i). location of bushmeat sale points in high human-density areas; ii). direct human and wildlife contact such as handling and butchering of wildlife with bare hands and non-usage of personal protective apparatus; and iii) practices such as ingestion, smoking of wildlife body parts, and topical applications compounded into traditional medicines. iii). Identification of wildlife such as rodents and primates that are suspected carriers/reservoirs of MPXV in the bushmeat markets. Lastly, there was a clustering of bushmeat markets locations with confirmed human Mpox cases on the Nigerian map.
About the Speakers
Prof. Dr. Fabian Leendertz
Fabian Leendertz studied veterinary medicine at the University of Budapest and the Freie Universität (FU) Berlin. In 2005, he became a doctor of veterinary medicine and head of the ‘Primate Diseases’ working group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. Subsequently, he headed the Emerging Zoonoses junior research group at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin until 2012 and qualified as a veterinary specialist in microbiology. As head of the RKI project group ‘Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Pathogens’ (2012 – 2021), he habilitated in microbiology at the FU Berlin in 2016. In 2021, Fabian Leendertz was appointed founding director of the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Greifswald and professor for One Health at the University of Greifswald.
Fabian Leendertz’s most important achievements include the discovery of a new type of anthrax pathogen (Bacillus cereus bv anthracis) and the first description of leprosy in wild great apes. He led the investigation into the origin of the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014 and is a member of the WHO expert group investigating the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, Prof Leendertz heads one of the three branch offices of the German national One Health Platform and is a member of various advisory boards. These include the advisory committee of the One Health Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the scientific commission of the Great Apes Survival Partnership of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the expert pool on pandemic preparedness of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In addition, Fabian Leendertz is a corresponding member of the French Académie Nationale de Médicine.
In recognition of his commitment to implementing the One Health concept, Fabian Leendertz was awarded UNEP’s Champion of the Earth Award in 2020. In 2023, he was honored by the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg with the Hamburg Science Prize for his groundbreaking achievements in the field of zoonotic infectious diseases using the One Health concept.
Kizito Kakule
Kizito Kakule is a Veterinary experienced in wildlife health monitoring in DRC national Parks (Kahuzi-Biega, Virunga, Maiko and in Zoos (including sanctuaries). With a Master’s degree in Wildlife Health Management as well as a Master’s degree in CITES and certified in Field Epidemiology (FLTP trained by AFENET/CDC Atlanta), he is an expert in the implementation of the One Health approach.
Kizito is Executive Director of the national NGO “COPHEGs” (Conservation and Public Health for Generations), heavily involved in diseases survey (detection, prevention and control of emerging diseases in general and zoonotic diseases specifically,
Kizito is currently involved in the MPOx response in Eastern part of the DRC, and more specifically in the province of North and South-Kivu, trying to assess the evolution of the outbreak in this area, with all the factors favoring his spread.
Dr Kizito has worked for over 10 years in conservation, implementing the Epidemiosurveillance program within ICCN in collaboration with the Fisheries and Livestock, Health and Environment departments, in the surveillance and prevention of zoonoses that can affect wildlife, humans and livestock in communities.
Dr. Adeyinka Jeremy Adedeji
Adeyinka Jeremy Adedeji is a veterinarian and researcher with the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) in Vom, Nigeria. He is also the head of the Pox Research Laboratory at NVRI. He has diverse experience on pox viruses of economic and zoonotic importance in Nigeria. In addition, since 2018, he has worked on collaborative projects to understand the animal reservoir of the monkeypox virus in Nigeria. Dr. Adeyinka Adedeji’s research interests are transboundary animal diseases and zoonotic pathogens, and wildlife trade.