It’s time to prepare.
That’s the call scientists mapping a new variant of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo have made to their neighboring countries.
The new variant is called Clade 1b and was originally spread among prostitutes in the mining town of Kamituga in eastern Congo-Kinshasa. The spread of the infection has been ongoing since at least September 2023, and since then over a thousand cases have been confirmed in the province of Kivu.
Risk of international spread
On Monday, the first case was confirmed in the city of Goma, which is located next to the border with neighboring Rwanda.
In Goma in particular there is also an international airport, which has increased the concern that monkeypox will spread to even more countries.
– There is definitely a possibility that the virus ends up on board an airplane, says Trudie Lang, researcher in global health at the University of Oxford, during a press conference on Wednesday.
The new virus strain causes a rash all over the body, unlike the previous virus which mainly caused a rash in the abdomen. Another difference is that the virus is transmitted via normal skin contact and is transmitted from mother to child. It is suspected to be behind a large number of miscarriages and stillbirths.
“Undeniably the most dangerous variant”
It is still unclear how serious the new variant of monkeypox is, but according to early estimates, adults who contract the disease run a five percent risk of death. In children, the figure is ten percent.
It can be compared to a variant of monkeypox that will spread globally in 2022. The risk of death for someone affected by that variant is 0.5 percent.
“It is undeniably the most dangerous variant so far of all known strains of monkeypox,” says Claude Udahemuka from the University of Rwanda.
“Everyone should prepare”.
Previous strains of monkeypox virus have been successfully treated with smallpox vaccine, but it is still uncertain whether it works against the new strain.