Experts are warning that a new virulent strain of the monkeypox virus, mpox, is spreading uncontrollably and posing a serious risk to hundreds of thousands of people. Also known as monkeypox, the mpox virus has caused an international health emergency since 2022, when it spread to more than 100 countries, causing severe fever, flu-like symptoms and a painful rash of pus-filled blisters.
DESTRUCTIVE EPIDEMIC
According to the Daily Star, parts of West Africa are still reeling from the devastating pandemic that has infected nearly 100,000 people and killed around 183.
A more lethal strain of the disease is now crossing borders, with a 10 percent mortality rate reported among children in refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus appears to spread quickly between people and has mutations that are not detectable by current tests.
IT CAUSED THE DEATHS OF DOZENS OF PEOPLE
Researchers say the new variant of the disease can cross country borders, causing dozens of deaths in Burundi, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent weeks, while thousands have been displaced by conflict in the region.
The NHS has urged anyone who has travelled to the UK from West Africa and is showing symptoms to seek immediate medical attention, but experts fear that not enough has been done to prevent a repeat outbreak as the disease spreads to areas where it has not previously been present.
“The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains the centre of an uncontrollable explosion of cases, with 11,000 cases reported this year alone, and shows no signs of slowing down. The most severe and deadly Clade 1 variant of mpox, historically endemic to Central Africa, has become widespread and is now found across the region,” Dr Zeil Rosenberg, executive vice president of a firm currently developing an mpox vaccine, told Mail Online.