The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has heightened its surveillance and emergency response systems to quickly detect possible cases of monkey pox (Mpox) which has surged in the sub-region. It follows a declaration of the disease by the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) as a "public health emergency" of security concern on the continent, on Tuesday. •Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe According to the Centre, what begun as an endemic strain known as Clade 1 has now changed into a new variant called Clade 1 b, spreading more through routine contact particularly among children and has so far affected over 15,000 people, caus­ing 461 deaths in 18 countries, this year. In an interview yesterday in Accra, the Director for Public Health, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, said the Service had reactivated its surveillance on the disease and putting orienting health professionals on early detection of cases. He said although the country had recorded cases of Mpox in the last two years, it had not recorded any, this year. "We have heightened surveillance, and the clinicians are also being re-trained. Early detection is what we are work­ing on and thankfully, we have the reference laboratory that has also improved our case confirmation from relying on Noguchi alone previously.