A new strain of the mpox virus spreading quickly along the eastern border of Democratic Republic of Congo is “incredibly worrying”, say health officials monitoring its spread.
The virus, which can cause lesions across the whole body, is making some people very ill and can be deadly.
The current outbreak has been driven by sexual transmission but there is evidence this strain can also be passed on through close skin-to-skin contact.
Global health experts say the new variant risks cross-border and international spread of the virus, with one calling it the “most dangerous strain yet”.
The last outbreak was not contained. Prior to 2022, there was no sustained transmission outside of central Africa. The 2022 outbreak saw significant transmission all over the world. There were 30,000 confirmed cases and 42 deaths in the US alone.
Just because something isn’t extremely contagious right now doesn’t mean it can’t become a pandemic. A virus
canwill mutate, it can go unnoticed, etc. As it stands, mpox can be transmitted by respiratory droplets.Smallpox was a related virus. It too was transmissible through close contact with other people. It killed 300 million people in the 20th century. While vaccination is likely going to prevent mpox from becoming anywhere close to that deadly, I’d rather not play with fire. Don’t ignore a nasty virus.
I see, I wasn’t aware the last outbreak had actually spread beyond the region. Thank you for the correction.
That said, I do not think reporting on every possible future pandemic actually helps more than it harms, in the grand scale of global mental health.