NPR Dr. Jean Kaseya has a warning for the world: “We are playing with fire.”
Kaseya is director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He’s talking about mpox, a virus that causes painful blisters and can be fatal.
For much of the world, mpox — formerly known as monkeypox — seems like a virus from a few years ago. There was a global outbreak in 2022 and 2023 but the virus is no longer circulating as widely in Europe and the U.S.
However, large swathes of Africa are in the midst of a major outbreak. The epicenter is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with more than 2,000 suspected cases reported each week for months, according to Africa CDC.