Free to read Telegraph article from their Global Health Security Department.
"Children account for a majority of infections and deaths in the world’s worst mpox outbreak, which is “accelerating” at a far greater rate than previously assumed, new figures show."..
Mpox is best known for the outbreak that erupted internationally in 2022, predominantly spreading in gay and bisexual men.
But the Democratic Republic of Congo is struggling to control a much deadlier form of mpox,known as clade one [aka clade 1, clade X]
But the Democratic Republic of Congo is struggling to control a much deadlier form of mpox,known as clade one [aka clade 1, clade X]
"The data also showed that, in 2023, some 65 per cent of cases and 75 per cent of deaths were in children under 15 years old, who spread the disease while out playing with one another."..
"“What we are seeing is an acceleration of an existing disease that has long been ignored,” Dr Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for mpox,..“We have gone from 1,000 per year in 2005 to 2015, to a thousand a month."
So, they're not calling it monkey pox anymore?
So, they're not calling it monkey pox anymore?
"There are mounting fears that mpox could spread outside central Africa if not contained soon. It has already jumped from remote, rainforest communities to 23 of the DRC’s 26 provinces, and is now gaining a foothold in major cities, including Kinshasa, the capital."
🤔
🤔
“If cities are more widely infected, because of the international movement of the population there, there is a high risk of exporting the [clade 1] variant across borders,”said a Kinshasa-based doctor .., who spoke anonymously to The Telegraph.
"“As long as the DRC continues to report cases, the world will not be safe.”"
Uh huh.. clearly a dig required.
Uh huh.. clearly a dig required.
"Mpox has a long history in the central African country. In 1970, the first known human case was detected in northwest DRC, when a nine-year-old boy developed a nasty rash that reminded medics of smallpox..
– an ancient killer which had already been wiped out in the region following an intense vaccination drive."
"Over the following decade, mpox outbreaks were sporadic and human-to-human transmission rare. This was partly because the smallpox shot provides protection against the mpox virus, too."..
"But since smallpox vaccinations stopped more than three decades ago, protection levels have gradually dropped. According to modelling from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, immunity to mpox fell from around 85 per cent in the early 1980s to 60 per cent in 2012."..
"“The hypothesis [is] that those under 40 – who have been born since the discontinuation of smallpox vaccination – are where person-to-person transmission is occurring,” said Prof David Heymann, a former WHO executive who worked on the DRC’s mpox response in the late 1970s."
!["“The hypothesis [is] that those under 40 – who have been born since the discontinuation of smallpo...](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GFKYCFlXAAAYgt4.jpg)
"In recent decades the country’s population has also swelled, with settlements spreading across the DRC’s rainforest basin. Researchers say this could be leading to more spillover events from wildlife – mpox is thought to have originated from rodents in central Africa."🤔
"last April, the DRC recorded the first known case of clade one being spread via sexual contact, ..
Such cases have been found in 3 provinces including Kinshasa, .. and Kamituga, a mining city in South Kivu where 34 sex workers have been infected, .."
Such cases have been found in 3 provinces including Kinshasa, .. and Kamituga, a mining city in South Kivu where 34 sex workers have been infected, .."
"Dr Lewis, of the WHO, added that the pathogen was “moving into new areas and is moving into new populations through new modes of transmission, which are sexual”."
"Dr Heymann added: “Remember, HIV was present in parts of Africa for many years before transmission was amplified in urban areas.”"
"The response to mpox has been hampered by a lack of resources...
The DRC does not have any rapid tests available to diagnose the clade one virus and there are only two laboratories nationwide for handling samples taken from suspected cases"..
The DRC does not have any rapid tests available to diagnose the clade one virus and there are only two laboratories nationwide for handling samples taken from suspected cases"..
"There are also no vaccination campaigns. The smallpox jab has been given to vulnerable populations across the globe, mainly men who have sex with men, but the DRC currently only has access to the vaccine for research studies."..
Loading suggestions...