Africa intensifies battle against mpox as ‘alarming’ outbreaks continue

Researchers and public health officials in Africa are intensifying their battle against mpox, a neglected infectious disease that long has circulated on the continent and suddenly gained notoriety in 2022 when it started to spread rapidly in Europe and North America. At a meeting last week in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, scientists from there and nine other affected African countries reviewed an alarming rise of cases on the continent, discussed plans to improve mpox surveillance and introduce vaccination, and launched an African-led research consortium. The meeting, convened by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the first of its kind on the continent, came as more evidence pours in that in Africa, too, mpox is sexually transmitted—and not just among men who have sex with men (MSM), the community most affected during the recent global outbreak. Mpox, called monkeypox until November 2022 , is caused by a member of the poxvirus family. The first human case was detected in the DRC in 1970. Until a few years ago, the virus primarily appeared to spread when people handled infected animal hosts such as rodents or between members of the same household who, say, shared fabrics or other objects . But researchers in Africa have documented sexual transmission as well, and a preprint posted on 14 April on medRxiv by the new Mpox Research Consortium warned that an outbreak of a concerning ne...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news