New monkeypox strain "mpox" spreads in Congo

The WHO is concerned about the spread of a new strain of monkeypox, mpox, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to preliminary data, this mutation is more easily transmitted between people than other known strains. Writes UNN with reference to The Hill.

According to the World Health Organization, the risk posed by the new strain of mpox in Congo is considered high, as the strain likely emerged in September 2023.

Despite ongoing research, it is known that the virus has some features that cause concern.

The main difference is that there is persistent person-to-person transmission. It's been going on for several months now, and it's really new as far as clade I is concerned."

The WHO noted that the class I-origin strain has mutations that indicate "the virus has adapted through circulation among humans." Unlike COVID-19, the mpox virus is not known to mutate rapidly.

William Schaffner, a spokesman for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said that "mpox" is more like measles, for which one course of vaccine usually lasts a lifetime, in terms of how easily it mutates.

Of course, there hasn't been a big surge, a big outbreak of mpox that we're seeing now. There were sporadic cases, of course, but nothing like this. This is a very characteristic outbreak. It doesn't seem to be a virus that mutates easily, but we have seen what I'm sure is the result of a mutation

The mortality rate for this disease is still quite low in eastern Congo at the moment.

At the moment, this strain of "mpox" is limited to Congo, although the region in which it is located borders Burundi and Rwanda, which provides an opportunity for infection outside the country.

Recall

Recently, cases of so-called "childhood" infectious diseases in adults have been increasingly reported in Ukraine, and cases of botulism and infectious hepatitis have also become more frequent.