African Health Officials Warn of Mpox Spread

African health officials say mpox infections on the continent have risen by 160 percent in 2024. They expect the spread to continue, they say, as Africa lacks effective treatments or vaccines for the viral disease.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been identified in 10 African countries this year.

Burundi and Rwanda both reported the virus for the first time recently.

New outbreaks were also declared this week in Kenya and Central African Republic.

On Wednesday, Kenya's Health Ministry said it found mpox in a passenger traveling from Uganda to Rwanda at a border crossing in southern Kenya. In a statement, the ministry said that a single mpox case was enough to require an outbreak declaration.

The Africa CDC has reported more than 14,000 cases of the disease. More than 96 percent of cases and deaths are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Earlier this year, scientists reported the appearance of a new form of mpox in a Congolese mining town. They fear it might spread more easily among people. Mpox spreads through close contact with infected people, including sex.

The Africa CDC said the mpox death rate is three percent. It said the rate “has been much higher on the African continent compared to the rest of the world.” During the global mpox emergency in 2022, less than one percent of people infected with the virus died.

The version of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could kill up to 10 percent of people infected, experts reported. The center noted that both of the mpox cases in Rwanda had been in Congo before testing positive.

A study of patients hospitalized from October to January in eastern Congo suggested that recent genetic changes in the virus were the result of ongoing spread in people.

In earlier mpox outbreaks, patients suffered lesions mainly on the chest, hands and feet. The new form of mpox causes less severe symptoms and lesions mainly appear on the genitals.

The Africa CDC said nearly 70 percent of cases in Congo are in children younger than 15. That group also represents 85 percent of deaths from the disease. The agency said the number of deaths across the continent has jumped by 19 percent since last year.

The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders called the expanding mpox outbreak “worrying.” It also said the disease has been found in camps for displaced people in Congo's North Kivu area, which shares a border with Rwanda.

Dr. Louis Massing is medical director for Congo at Doctors Without Borders. Massing said, “There is a real risk of explosion, given the huge population movements in and out.”

Mpox outbreaks in the West have been uncommon because of vaccines and treatments. But few treatments have been available in African countries including the Congo.

In May, the WHO said no donors had provided money to fight the spread of mpox.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is an aid organization based in Norway. It recently announced the start of an mpox vaccine study in Congo and other African countries. It aims to learn if vaccine treatment given just after infection could prevent severity of the disease.

I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

Jean Fernand Koena and Maria Cheng reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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ravaging –adj. damaging or harming badly

lesions –n. (medical) an area of infected skin that is usually swollen, red, bleeding or releasing fluid

symptoms –n. signs that an infection is present