Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa CDC, reportedly stated that the Democratic Republic of Congo is the African country with the fastest spread of the mpox virus. He mentioned that within the past week, 1,000 new cases had been recorded in the DRC.
Since the start of the year, the total number of mpox infections in the country has reached 16,000, with more than 570 fatalities.
Kaseya also reportedly said that, alongside the DRC, the number of mpox cases is also rapidly increasing in Burundi and the Central African Republic. At the same time, no new cases of mpox were recorded in Kenya, Rwanda, or Uganda over the past week.
Scientists believe that the current mpox outbreak in Africa is caused by a virus that has undergone a genetic mutation. It was first detected last spring in the eastern DRC and was named Clade 1b. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Clade 1b is a modification of the virus that caused an epidemic in 2022 around the world, affecting about 100 countries.
On August 14, WHO declared the mpox outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern. Five African countries—Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda—were included in the WHO-approved list of states that are recommended to secure special measures to counter the mpox outbreak.