United States: A more dangerous form of mpox has spread beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, and now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is getting ready to alert doctors in the United States. The CDC will soon release an updated health warning to inform healthcare providers about this growing mpox situation.
Mpox Details and Spread
As reported by NBC News, mpox, formerly known as monkey pox which is a virus that causes the fevers, headaches and muscles aches as well as the painful boils on the skin and its spread from the person to person through very close skin to skin contact and in the very rare cases it can be deadly.
“I am considering convening an International Health Regulations Emergency Committee to advise me on whether the outbreak of mpox should be declared a public health emergency of international area concern (PHEIC),” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted Sunday.
It was unclear Monday when the WHO or the CDC would issue any alert.
Outbreak Status and Regional Impact
So, mainly the spread in the central Africa which has experienced the worst of an ongoing outbreak of the mpox.
More than 12,000 people and there have been diagnosed and at least 470 people have died.
Also, the neighbouring countries like Kenya and the Central African Republic have the reported cases linked to the strain circulating in Congo.
New Strain: Clade 1b
The new form of mpox, called clade 1b, is different from the version that spread in 2022, which mostly affected men. That older type has become less common in the U.S.
Clade 1b is more serious and can be deadly. About 4% of clade 1b cases are fatal, which is higher compared to less than 1% for the 2022 types.
This new strain especially affects children. Most cases of clade 1b are in kids under 15 years old. Infants and young children are at very high risk of getting very sick or dying from it. In Congo, children make up 62% of the deaths from mpox.