FILE PHOTO: The World Health Organisation logo is seen near its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoThe spread of mpox in Africa needs to be addressed urgently, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday, as scientists warned separately of a dangerous strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In a separate briefing, John Claude Udahemuka of the University of Rwanda, who has been working on an outbreak in Congo’s hard-to-reach South Kivu province, said the strain spreading there – a mutated version of the clade I mpox endemic in Congo for decades – was extremely dangerous. It has fatality rates of around 5% in adults and 10% in children.
Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close contact, causing flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Most cases are mild but it can kill. Vaccines and treatments were used to combat the global outbreak, but they are not available in Congo.In South Kivu, Adahemuka and other researchers said the new strain was spreading partly by sexual contact among men and women, and particularly among sex workers.
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