A new, highly contagious and severe strain of mpox virus, formerly known as monkeypox, is spreading across the globe following a major outbreak in Africa.
Clade Ib, the new variant of clade I, first reported in September last year among sex workers in the mining town of Kamituga in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has now mutated, affecting children under the age of 15.
On August 14, the World Health Organization and African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (African CDC) declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years after it spread to DRC neighboring countries that had no previous record of mpox cases.
Responding to the WHO mpox global emergency declaration, Eric Amunga, commonly known as AMERIX on X, accused the WHO of being a criminal organization and asked his 1.9 million followers to shun the safety guidelines it issued
Mpox killed 517 and infected 17,000 this year alone, the African CDC reported. With new, more aggressive mutations, it has elevated to a global health crisis. COVID-19 vaccines do not apply to mpox prevention. A smallpox Jynneos vaccine, developed by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, is used to treat the mpox virus.
The African Union (AU) Champion on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR), which represents the 54 African countries, said on August 16 that the number of affected African countries could rise from 13 to 16 after 3 more countries reported “cases under investigation for confirmation.’’
Sweden reported its first case of mpox after the WHO announcement. Since then, new cases have been recorded elsewhere outside of Africa.
Since 2022, the U.S. has recorded 32,000 cases of infections and 58 deaths, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.
Amunga did not tell his close to 2 million followers on X that mpox is not a new disease. The virus was discovered in 1958 in a colony of monkeys, and the first case of human infection was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the CDC, “the virus is most common in the tropical rainforests of West and Central Africa, and thousands of cases are reported every year.’’
While thoroughly false, Amunga’s call of no compliance with the WHO mpox recommendations and his portrayal of the vaccine to prevent a severe reaction to the virus as a “scam” are part of a viral global trend on X, involving thousands of anti-vaxxers and reaching millions of users.
(VOA/AB)
