At least 25 cases of MPOX, a dangerous new strain spreading across the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been confirmed in the eastern city of Goma, mostly in camps housing people fleeing fighting in the surrounding area, health officials said Wednesday.
Congo has recorded more than 20,000 cases of MPOX, mainly among children, and more than 1,000 deaths since the beginning of 2023. So far this year, more than 11,000 cases, including 443 deaths, have been reported.
Authorities recently approved the use of vaccines to tackle the rising number of infections, but no vaccines are currently available in the country outside clinical trials.
Chris Kashita, head of the country's national polio response team, said in an interview that most of the newly reported cases were in camps for displaced people.
He said the cases were infected with a new strain of the virus spreading in South Kivu province, where Goma is the capital and largest city.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientists sounded the alarm about the MPOX situation in Congo, including the spread of a new MPOX strain in South Kivu province.
Mpox has been endemic in Congo for decades, but last year a new variant of lineage I of the virus emerged. It is a viral infection that spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Most cases are mild, but it can be fatal.
In 2022, another milder form of MPOX (clade IIb) spread worldwide, mainly through male-to-male sexual contact, leading the WHO to declare it a public health emergency, which has now ended. However, cases are still occurring, and the WHO has stated that MPOX remains a public health threat.
“The National Biomedical Institute in Goma sequenced the virus and proved that the virus had been circulating in the city for a long time,” Kachita said.
“The risk here is promiscuity in the camps and the rapid spread of infectious diseases,” he warned.
Hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the conflict in the east, which is under attack by Congolese rebels, are staying in overcrowded camps in and around Goma.
The number of displaced people has been growing since the rebel group known as M23 launched a major offensive in 2022, and national and regional armies have struggled to halt the militias' advance.
