African health officials say MPOX infections on the continent are expected to increase by 160% by 2024. They expect the spread to continue, they say, because Africa lacks effective treatments or vaccines against the viral disease.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been identified in 10 African countries this year.
Burundi and Rwanda both recently reported the virus for the first time.
New outbreaks were also declared this week in Kenya and the Central African Republic.
Kenya’s health ministry said on Wednesday it had detected the infection with MPOX in a passenger travelling from Uganda to Rwanda at a border post in southern Kenya. In a statement, the ministry said a single case of MPOX was enough to warrant declaring an outbreak.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has documented more than 14,000 cases of the disease. More than 96 percent of cases and deaths occur in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in a Congolese mining town. They fear it could spread more easily between people. mpox is spread through close contact with infected people, including sexually.
The Africa CDC said the mortality rate for MPOX is 3%. It said the rate “has been much higher on the African continent compared to the rest of the world.” During the global MPOX emergency in 2022, less than one percent of people infected with the virus died.
The variant of MPOX present in the Democratic Republic of Congo could kill up to 10% of those infected, experts reported. The center noted that the two MPOX cases in Rwanda were detected in Congo before testing positive.
A study of patients hospitalized from October to January in eastern Congo suggested that recent genetic changes in the virus were the result of continued spread among humans.
In previous MPOX outbreaks, patients suffered lesions mainly on the chest, hands and feet. The newer form of MPOX causes less severe symptoms symptoms and the lesions appear mainly on the genitals.
According to the Africa CDC, nearly 70% of cases in Congo are among children under the age of 15. This group also accounts for 85% of deaths from the disease. The agency said the number of deaths on the continent has increased by 19% since last year.
The medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders called the growing outbreak of mpox “worrying.” It also said the disease had been detected in camps for displaced people in Congo’s North Kivu region, which shares a border with Rwanda.
Dr Louis Massing, medical director for Congo at Médecins Sans Frontières, said: “The risk of an explosion is real, given the massive population movements.”
Smallpox epidemics are rare in the West thanks to vaccines and treatments. But few treatments are available in African countries, particularly in Congo.
In May, the WHO said no donors had provided money to combat the spread of mpox.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is a humanitarian organization based in Norway. It recently announced the launch of a study of the mpox vaccine in Congo and other African countries. Its goal is to find out whether vaccine treatment given immediately after infection could prevent the severity of the disease.
I am Mario Ritter, Jr.
Jean Fernand Koena and Maria Cheng reported this story for The Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English.
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Words in this story
devastating –adj. damage or seriously harm
lesions –n. (medical) an infected area of skin that is usually swollen, red, bleeding, or releasing fluid
symptoms -not. signs indicating the presence of an infection
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