Bloomberg A mutated strain of the virus that causes mpox has been detected in at least six African countries, and fears are mounting that the cases could be but the beginnings of a continent-wide outbreak of the disease.
The new variant may have infected more than 12,300 people and killed almost 500 since the start of the year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone. Recent cases in Ivory Coast, Kenya and other countries have raised concern of an explosive contagion carried along newly built roads and highways connecting remote mining sites to cities and camps housing hundreds of thousands of conflict-displaced Congolese.