The United States has announced a $500 million aid package and plans to provide vaccines to contain the rapid spread of a new, deadly mpox sub-variant in central Africa, Bloomberg reports.
John Nkengasong, the US’s senior bureau official for global health security and diplomacy, highlighted the urgency of the situation during an interview in Pretoria on Wednesday.
This new mpox sub-variant, known as clade 1b, has spread rapidly in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and into Burundi, as well as other East African countries. Unlike previous strains, it appears to be transmissible through all types of sexual intercourse and close physical contact, posing a significant threat, particularly to children, with hundreds of fatalities already reported.
Last week, the head of the Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya, confirmed suspected mpox cases in at least 15 African nations. He attributed 840 deaths to the disease, which causes painful lesions and other illnesses. Cases of the sub-variant have also been detected in Sweden, Thailand, and India, indicating its global spread.
Nkengasong attributed the spread to increased travel and interaction with wild areas in East Africa, where the disease was previously absent. He also cited the recent outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda as another example of emerging diseases linked to heightened travel and interaction with previously untouched regions.
Drawing parallels with the Ebola virus, first discovered in 1976, Nkengasong stressed the interconnectedness of global health.
“A disease threat anywhere in the world is a threat everywhere in the world because of the movement of people,” he said, underscoring the importance of proactive measures to prevent future disease emergence.
