WHO: Mpox no longer global health emergency

May 11 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization announced on Thursday that mpox, formerly monkeypox, is no longer a global health emergency.

The announcement was made after the WHO's fifth meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Wednesday regarding the multi-country outbreak of the disease.

The committee confirmed that progress has been made in the global response to the outbreak, including in the United States. The committee said there was a significant decline in the number of reported cases compared with the previous reporting period.

"In total, more than 87,000 cases and 140 deaths have been reported to WHO, from 111 countries," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in opening comments to the committee on Wednesday.

"Due to global mobilization and the rapid response of most countries, we now see steady progress in controlling this outbreak. There were almost 90% fewer cases reported in the last three months, compared with the previous three months."

The committee acknowledged remaining uncertainties about the disease, regarding modes of transmission in some countries, poor quality of some reported data, and continued lack of effective countermeasures in the African countries.

The body added that efforts to control the spread of mpox were done largely in the absence of outside funding support. They noted it would be difficult to eliminate mpox without additional support.

In March, U.S. public health officials called for high-risk individuals who haven't been vaccinated for mpox to do so before a potential resurgence of the virus in the coming months.

Health officials worried that a new surge could be worse than last year, federal modeling has found, but only about 23% of those at high risk for the virus have received vaccines, according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ghebreyesus said while stigma had been a driving concern in managing the epidemic and continues to hamper access to care, the feared backlash against the most affected communities has largely not materialized.

Those at highest risk included gay and bisexual men, and people who have multiple sex partners.