Concerns Rise As Monkeypox Resurgence Affects Africa
Two years after global outbreak, concerns grow over new mpox strain — formerly monkeypox — identified in DR Congo and neighbouring nations, raising fears of further spread.
More lethal and easier to spread than earlier strains, the mpox strain surging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since September, known as the Clade Ib subclade, is spread person-to-person.
On Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated it might assemble an expert committee to determine if an international emergency declaration is warranted, similar to the action taken during the global mpox outbreak in 2022.
The Clade Ib strain causes skin rashes across the whole body, unlike other strains where lesions and rashes are usually limited to the mouth, face and genitals.
The African Union health agency, Africa CDC, registered 14,479 confirmed and suspected cases of the strain and 455 deaths in DRC as of August 3, representing a mortality rate of around three percent.
But researchers in the vast Central African nation say the mortality rate from the strain can be as much as 10 percent among children.
The Congolese government acknowledged last month an “exponential increase” in cases.
“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.
Already, the Clade Ib strain has jumped national borders — in the last two weeks, cases have been reported in Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya, Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for mpox, told AFP.
Authorities in the four countries have confirmed mpox cases — Burundi in particular has reported 127 cases — without specifying the strain.
The eight-member East African Community (EAC) has urged governments to educate their citizens on how to protect themselves and prevent the spread of the disease.
Lewis, from the WHO, said it was the first time that the four countries lying to the east of DRC had reported 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 also reported 35 suspected and confirmed cases, including two deaths, in Cameroon, 146 cases, including one death, in Congo Brazzaville, 227 cases in the Central African Republic, 24 in Nigeria, five in Liberia and four cases in Ghana.
In West Africa, Ivory Coast recently reported six confirmed non-fatal cases, five of which were in the economic capital Abidjan, without specifying the strain.
