Mpox: Virus behind new DRC outbreak is most dangerous strain yet, experts warn

A deadlier strain of the mpox virus is being transmitted directly between humans for the first time in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), experts have warned.Trudie Lang, professor of global health research at the University of Oxford, told a World Health Organization media briefing that the clade 1 mpox virus—a strain of the clade 2 virus that caused a global outbreak in 2022—was “definitely the most dangerous strain yet.”The current case figures from the affected zone of DRC probably represent “the tip of the iceberg,” Lang said.Human-to-human transmission is occurring through sexual and non-sexual contact, including among schoolchildren. It is the first time that clade I mpox has shown sustained community transmission.Mpox originated as a zoonotic disease, which humans contracted through eating bush meat or coming into close contact with monkeys, squirrels, African giant pouched rats, and other animals. The milder clade 2 mpox is known…
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