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   https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/africa-ac/monkeypox/1003943-drc-mpox-monkeypox-outbreak-2025?view=stream or https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/africa-ac/monkeypox/1003943-drc-mpox-monkeypox-outbreak-2025?view=stream (latests)
A case of Mpox confirmed in a displaced persons site in Oicha

Published on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 04:57 PM | Modified on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 04:57 PM

A first confirmed case of Mpox has been reported in the rural health zone of Oicha, in the territory of Beni (North Kivu). It is a two-month-old infant, who lives with his mother in the Luvangira displaced persons site.

According to medical sources, the case was suspected on January 5, when samples were taken for analysis. These confirmed that the child had monkeypox. Two other suspected cases were also reported in the same displaced persons site.

Archipe Kule Kyusa, the supervising nurse in charge of preventive activities and epidemiological surveillance, indicates that all measures have been taken to follow up on contacts at risk and thus avoid the spread of the disease.

"The health zone has just reported a positive case of Monkey pox. It is a two-month-old child and curiously his family lives in a displaced persons site.Our fear is that the case is where people are crowded together, there is a risk that the spread of the disease will be great ," fears the nurse.

This is why the health zone and the ECZ team thought it better to list the contacts. In the meantime, there were two other people who presented the same signs and are already at the Monkey Pox Treatment Center (CTM) in Oicha, he adds.

According to Archipe Kule Kyusa, the medical staff is sensitizing the local population to prevent this disease by washing their hands regularly. He is also recommending vaccination, especially for families where these cases are found.
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Mpox: the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains “worrying” (WHO)

January 13, 2025 Health

Although most trends appear "stable," the monkeypox situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains "worrying," the UN health agency (WHO) said on Monday, noting that the outbreak of the Mpox virus clade Ib continues mainly in the country, Burundi and Uganda, but also new travel-related cases have been identified in some countries that were not previously affected.

According to the World Health Organization ( WHO ), the DRC remains the most affected country, with circulation of both subclades I of Mpox. Generally speaking, the epidemic curves of suspected smallpox cases in the 12 most affected provinces show that these provinces have varying epidemic sizes, but for most of them, the trend over the last few weeks appears relatively stable.

In provinces where MPXV clade Ia and clade Ib are known to co-circulate, including the capital Kinshasa, the trend of suspected cases has also been relatively stable over the past few months.

However, even though "most trends appear stable, the situation in the country remains worrying, as it shows a high and continued circulation of the virus," the WHO detailed in its latest epidemiological report.

More than 9,500 cases in the DRC including 43 deaths

Since its first detection in September 2023, clade Ib has been detected in eight provinces of the DRC: South Kivu, North Kivu, Kinshasa, Kasai, Tshopo, Tanganyika, Haut-Katanga and Mai Ndonbe.

In Africa, from January 2024 to January 5, 2025, 14,700 confirmed cases of Mpox, including 66 deaths, were reported by 20 countries. The most affected country remains the Democratic Republic of Congo (9,513 cases including 43 deaths). This is followed by Burundi (3,035 confirmed cases, including one death) and Uganda (1,552 confirmed cases, including 12 deaths).

Burundi and Uganda continue to report between 100 and 200 new smallpox cases per week, with a tendency to plateau, possibly due to a drop in surveillance and reporting during the December holiday period.

Community transmission has also been reported in other countries on the continent, such as Kenya and Rwanda. Travel-related cases have been reported in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition, although no cases have been confirmed to date in Tanzania, the identification of travel-related smallpox cases in Tanzania suggests undetected transmission in that country.

Mpox cases in Europe and North America linked to travel to Africa

Outside Africa, eleven countries have detected MPXV clade Ib. Sweden, Thailand, the United States of America and Canada have detected one case each among travellers from affected countries in East and Central Africa.

For WHO, these recent travel-associated smallpox cases highlight the risk of undetected transmission within countries, underscoring the need for enhanced surveillance and timely reporting to improve global monitoring and prevent international spread.

A travel-related case of Mpox due to clade Ib in Germany (the second importation) led to secondary transmission at home. Germany has thus confirmed six cases: three cases among travellers from affected countries in East Africa and three household contacts of one of these travellers.

MPXV clade Ib has been detected in three other countries, Belgium, China and France, directly or indirectly linked to travel to the affected countries in Central Africa.

Kosovo reported its first case of MPXV. No information on the MPXV clade is yet available.

DJ, In "official numbers" CoViD in Africa was "limited"...but it has to be translated to "we did not test because we did not care"...So Mpox better able to spread may be an outcome...