Mpox in South Kivu, DRC
A total of 823 cases of mpox, or monkeypox have been recorded in the South Kivu province since October 2023.
In an address last Saturday in Bukavu, Doctor Claude Bahizire, communications officer at the Provincial Health Division (DPS) underlines that the situation of this epidemic in the province is becoming more and more worrying:
"The situation is becoming more and more difficult. Every week, we record 70 to 80 cases of Monkeypox. For the moment, all 34 health zones in South Kivu are already affected," he explained.
Dr. Bahizire said the most affected area is that of Mwenga with 519 cases notified alone and followed by the health zone of Nyangezi with 101 cases recorded.
Since the beginning of the year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported 7,281 mpox cases and 374 deaths.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is putting out an alert to clinicians to be on the look for clade I monkeypox cases from people traveling from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Classified as clade I, this strain of mpox is more deadly than clade II that caused a global outbreak in 2022.
Researchers from the CDC are worried that recent increases in the spread of clade I Monkeypox in this area raises the risk it could spread globally.
Mpox is a disease caused by infection with monkeypox virus. Mpox is endemic throughout Central and West Africa near forests.
People usually become infected with the monkeypox virus through contact with the skin lesions or bodily fluids of infected animals or humans (alive or dead), including respiratory droplets, or through contact with materials contaminated with the virus. Transmission also occurs through intimate contact, including sex, with an infected person.
Symptoms often include fever (≥100.4°F), rash, headache, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes. Fever is not always present. Lesions typically develop at the same time and evolve together on any given part of the body. Mpox is a potentially fatal disease.
There is a vaccine available for mpox.