Two years after a worldwide outbreak, concerns are rife about the spread of a new variant of Mpox formerly known as Monkeypox.
The new strain, referred to as the Clade Ib subclade, has been detected in DR Congo and several nearby countries, AFP reports.
The new strain is more lethal and easily transmissible than previous forms and is transmitted from person to person. Unlike other strains where lesions and rashes typically only appear in the mouth, face, and genitals, the Clade Ib strain causes skin rashes throughout the entire body.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that it plans to gather a panel of experts to deliberate whether to declare an international emergency, as it did in 2022.
According to the African Union health agency, Africa CDC, 14,479 suspected cases of the strain have been confirmed, and 455 deaths have been recorded in DRC as of August 3, indicating a mortality rate of around three per cent.
Researchers in the DRC have indicated that the mortality rate from the strain may reach ten per cent.
“The disease has been seen in the displacement camps around Goma in North Kivu where the extreme population density makes the situation very critical,” Louis Albert Massing, medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in DRC said.
“The risks of explosion are real given the enormous population movements” in the conflict-ridden region, which borders several countries, he added.
The Clade Ib strain has also been detected in Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya. Burundi alone has reported 127 cases without specifying the strain.
The eight-member East African Community (EAC) has prompted the different governments to sensitise their citizens on preventive measures to curb the spread of the disease.
According to Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for Mpox, this is the first time four African countries lying to the east of DRC are reporting Mpox cases.
“Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda are countries that don’t have this disease in an endemic way. That means it’s an extension of the outbreak which is raging in the DRC and in Central Africa generally,” she said.
Africa CDC has recorded 35 confirmed cases with two deaths. In Cameroon, 146 cases with one fatality in Congo Brazzaville, 227 cases in the Central African Republic, 24 in Nigeria, five in Liberia, and four cases in Ghana.
Six non-fatal cases were detected in Ivory Coast, five of which were in Abidjan, without specifying the strain.
Mpox was initially identified in humans in 1970 in the DRC, formerly known as Zaire. It has predominantly been limited to specific West and Central African countries. Humans primarily contract it from infected animals, such as when consuming bushmeat.
In early July, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned that Mpox remains a global health concern.