Earlier this month, the World Health Organization announced the registration of about 18,000 confirmed cases, including 66 deaths, in 20 African countries during the first five days of January 2025. It reported that the confirmed cases represented only a fraction of the total suspected infections, reflecting gaps in diagnostic and reporting systems in some regions.
Al Jazeera reported that the outbreak was attributed to multiple virus variants, including the Clade LB variant, mainly spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and nearby countries.
Secondary transmission was traced to travel-related cases of the Clade LB variant. Many such cases involved adults who traveled during the incubation period or showed early symptoms upon arrival at new destinations. The World Health Organization said these instances underlined challenges stemming from different surveillance and reporting capacities worldwide.
The World Health Organization reiterated that monkeypox spread through close contact, body fluids, respiratory droplets, and contaminated materials, causing fever, rash, swollen lymph nodes, and pus-filled sores.
On Thursday, China announced that it had detected a new mutated sub-lineage of monkeypox, reported Al Jazeera Arabic, adding that the infection began with a foreigner who had traveled and resided in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Health experts said monkeypox was usually mild but could cause death in rare cases.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq