Virus, now a public health emergency, is crossing borders and there are fears it could reach other continents
Why are cases rising now?
A new offshoot of clade I, clade Ib, has been detected in the east of the DRC and has been confirmed in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Scientists believe this variant is playing a role in the spread.
Clade I has, in the past, typically spread by people eating infected bushmeat. Clade Ib is spreading person to person, often via sexual contact, but also through other physical and face-to-face contact, or via contaminated bedding or towels. Dr Rosamund Lewis, the World Health Organization (WHO) lead for mpox, said: “We don’t know that it’s more transmissible, but it is transmitting through an efficient mode.”
Other forms of the virus remain in circulation. The DRC is also recording cases of clade Ia, as is the Central African Republic. Clade II has been reported in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa, according to the WHO.
The increase comes amid high levels of insecurity in the region, and the climate crisis is bringing humans into closer contact with nature, which are also factors according to Dr Jean Kaseya, the head of Africa CDC.