A new form of mpox has been detected in a mining town in Congo. Scientists say this new form spreads more easily among people.
Over 4,500 suspected mpox cases have been reported in Congo since January, according to the World Health Organization. Congo has recently declared the outbreak a health emergency across the country.
An examination of patients admitted to hospitals between October and January in Kamituga, eastern Congo, indicates that recent genetic mutations in mpox stem from its ongoing spread among humans. This phenomenon is occurring in a town where residents have minimal contact with the wild animals thought to naturally carry the disease.
“We’re in a new phase of mpox,” said Dr. Placide Mbala-Kingebeni, the lead researcher of the study. He heads a lab at Congo’s National Institute of Biomedical Research, which studies the genetics of diseases.The lesions reported by most patients are milder and on the genitals, Mbala-Kingebeni said, making the disease trickier to diagnose.
He however said that the new form seems to have a lower death rate
The WHO said the new form of the disease might require a new strategy to test the mutations.
Lesions were mostly seen on the chest, hands and feet, in previous outbreaks in Africa.
Mbala-Kingebeni said: “The risk is that unless patients themselves come forward, we will have a silent transmission of the disease and nobody will know.” He added that the disease was transmitted mostly via sex, with about a third of mpox cases found in sex workers.
It was in 2022 that scientists established that the disease was spread through sexual intercourse, with most cases in gay or bisexual men.
Two strains of mpox exist. Clade 1, the more severe variant, which can result in mortality rates of up to 10% among those infected. Clade 2, which sparked the outbreak in 2022, with over 99% of infected individuals surviving.
Mbala-Kingebeni and colleagues have identified a novel variant of clade 1, potentially responsible for over 240 cases and at least three fatalities in Kamituga. This region hosts a substantial transient population, with many individuals traveling to other parts of Africa and beyond.
An infectious diseases specialist at Emory University, expressed concern over the new mutations. She said, “This suggests the virus is adapting to spread efficiently in humans and could cause some pretty consequential outbreaks.”
While mpox outbreaks in the West were controlled with the aid of vaccines and treatments, such resources have been scarce in Congo.
Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee, stated that the Minister of Health has sanctioned the use of vaccines in high-risk provinces. Osako also mentioned ongoing discussions with donor countries such as Japan to procure the necessary vaccinations.
Last week, the head of emergencies at WHO, Dr. Michael Ryan, stated that despite the continued spread of mpox in Africa and other regions, not a single donor dollar has been invested.
Melissa Enoch
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