As the Democratic Republic of the Congo begins a vaccination campaign amid a resurgence of the sometimes deadly disease MPOX, AFP is looking at how the virus originated.
Since it first infected humans in 1970, several outbreaks of mpox have occurred, mainly in Africa.
The disease, originally called monkeypox, is spread through close contact with infected people or animals and causes fever, muscle aches, and painful skin lesions.
It was first discovered in monkeys in 1958 and is related to the deadly smallpox virus, but it is much milder than the smallpox virus, which was eradicated in 1980.
The World Health Organization announced in November 2022 that the disease should be called “mpox,” believing it would be less stigmatizing.
According to the WHO, the disease was first detected in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as Zaire.
There are two virus subtypes: clade 1 and clade 2.
For decades, clade 1 cases have occurred sporadically in the Congo Basin of central Africa, and clade 2 cases have occurred sporadically in parts of West Africa.
In June 2003, the disease first surfaced in the United States outside Africa.
It is thought to have spread after rodents imported to the United States from Ghana infected prairie dogs.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 87 cases, 20 of them confirmed, but no deaths.
According to the WHO, a large-scale infectious disease outbreak occurred in Nigeria in 2017, with more than 200 infected people, more than 500 suspected cases, and a case fatality rate of about 3%.
Over the next five years, sporadic infections among travelers arriving from Nigeria were reported around the world, particularly in the United Kingdom, Israel, Singapore, and the United States.
Since May 2022, clade 2 has spread worldwide, primarily affecting gay and bisexual men in Europe and the United States.
Clade 2 appears to be spread primarily through close and prolonged contact, especially sexual intercourse. People with multiple partners are most at risk.
In July 2022, WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern at the highest level of alert.
In May 2023, after vaccination and awareness campaigns in many countries helped bring down the global number of cases, WHO reported 140 deaths out of approximately 87,400 infections. The state of emergency has been lifted.
In 2024, a new two-pronged outbreak occurred primarily in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Similar to clade 1, which primarily affects children, a new strain called clade 1b has emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Clade 1b cases have also been recorded in neighboring Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, none of which had previously detected mpox.
The WHO again declared a state of international emergency in mid-August.
DRC is the epicenter of the mpox outbreak, recording more than 30,000 infections and 988 deaths since January, according to the health minister.
According to the African Union’s health watchdog, the Africa CDC, as of October 3, some 34,297 cases of the virus, including all strains, have been recorded in 16 countries across Africa since January.
Rwanda’s first vaccination campaign targeting high-risk populations began on September 17.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a targeted vaccination campaign began on October 5th. The country has received 265,000 vaccine doses from the European Union and the United States. The US government plans to donate 1 million vaccine doses to African countries.
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This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.
