A new mpox strain, clade Ib, has emerged from the Democratic Republic of Congo and is spreading more rapidly and mutating faster than previous strains. Scientists are facing...
A new mpox strain, clade Ib, has emerged from the Democratic Republic of Congo and is spreading more rapidly and mutating faster than previous strains.
That means there are multiple unknowns about the virus itself, its severity and how it is transmitting, complicating the response, half a dozen scientists in Africa, Europe and the United States told Reuters. Congo has had more than 18,000 suspected clade I and clade Ib mpox cases and 615 deaths this year, according to the WHO. There have also been 222 confirmed clade Ib cases in four African countries in the last month, plus a case each in Sweden and Thailand in people with a travel history in Africa.
Genetic sequencing of clade Ib infections, which the WHO estimates emerged mid-September 2023, show they carry a mutation known as APOBEC3, a signature of adaptation in humans. In the past, mpox was predominantly acquired through human contact with infected animals. That is still driving a rise in Congo in clade I cases – also known as clade Ia – likely due in part to deforestation and increased consumption of bushmeat, scientists said.
Clade I has typically caused more severe disease, with fatality rates of 4%-11%, compared to around 1 per cent for clade II. Ogoina said data from Congo suggests few have died of the new Ib version, but he feared some data is being mixed up.
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