Two outbreaks of mpox in sub-Saharan Africa are raising concerns about the continued spread of the virus globally — and the surge of a deadlier strain than the one that began circling the globe in 2022.
“We live in an interconnected world, so the spread of this virus can continue to happen, and that is something that requires strong surveillance,” Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the WHO, told reporters on Thursday.
“We are sequencing our cases, and we’re looking out for [the deadly strain] — but at the moment, it’s the global outbreak” variant, Lucille Blumberg, an honorary consultant for the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, tells NPR.
In DRC, there are similar challenges reaching sex workers who are heavily stigmatized, Jason Kindrachuk, associate professor in medical microbiology and infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba, tells NPR.
South Africa, for example, could tap into established HIV programs where “many people have experience communicating sensitively and working with key population groups,” Blumberg says.
Beyond vaccines, fundamental public health work — communicating the risks, offering testing and treatment, doing contact tracing, and above all mobilizing the community — could also help, Van Kerkhove says.
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