Huge rise in Mpox cases in DR Congo: govt

The Democratic Republic of Congo is suffering an "exponential rise" in the number of monkeypox cases, the government said Saturday.

Government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said the cumulative number of suspected cases had hit 11,166, including 450 deaths, for a fatality rate of four percent.

He said a report by the country's health ministry revealed "an exponential increase in the number of cases".

Muyaya added that the western province of Equateur was worst affected.

The report said the government was taking a series of measures to combat the disease, notably "medical care, monitoring of contacts with the respective health zones (and) promotion of community-based surveillance."

The report came just days after the World Health Organization warned of the threat to global health posed by the "Mpox" disease amid concern of a potential epidemic outbreak of a new, more deadly strain of the virus in the DRC.

The latest outbreak shows "no sign of slowing down", said WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

He cited 11,000 reported cases and 445 deaths, with children worst affected.

Rosamund Lewis, specialist in monkey pox at the WHO, also warned of the risk of the virus crossing borders.

South Africa recently reported 20 cases, including three deaths.

Mpox was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what was then Zaire, now the DRC. Since then it has been mainly limited to countries in the west and center of the continent.

Historically, most sufferers were contaminated by infected animals.

But since May 2022, health officials have reported Mpox virus infections worldwide, primarily affecting gay and bisexual men.

Since last September, a new, even more deadly strain has been spreading in the DRC, also being transmitted through sexual contact between men.

The new strain has so far been transmitted exclusively from person to person, Lewis said.

© 2024 AFP