COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Shares in Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic, which manufactures a vaccine targeting mpox, soared Thursday after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency.

Worried by the rise in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the spread to nearby countries, the WHO hastily convened a meeting of experts to study the outbreak and on Wednesday said the “situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.”

Bavarian Nordic, whose vaccine has been licensed for preventing mpox since 2019, saw its shares rise more than eight percent on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange by midday on Thursday.

This built on a share price climb of 12 percent on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the African Union’s health agency Africa CDC announced that over 200,000 doses of the Danish drugmaker’s vaccine were to be deployed in Africa, following an agreement with the European Union (EU) and Bavarian Nordic.

A total of 38,465 cases of the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, have been reported in 16 African countries since January 2022, with 1,456 deaths.

There has been a 160 percent increase in cases this year compared to the previous year, according to data published last week by the health agency.

Bavarian Nordic mainly supplies it’s mpox vaccine — called Jynneos in the United States and Imvanex in the European Union — to governments and international organisations, but began marketing it on the US market in April.