Mpox outbreaks declared in Kenya and Central African Republic. The race is on to contain the spread

ABUJA, Nigeria — Kenya and the Central African Republic have declared new mpox outbreaks as African health officials race to contain the spread of the disease in a vaccine-starved region.

Nairobi announced the outbreak on Wednesday after a case was detected in a passenger traveling from Uganda to Rwanda at a border crossing in southern Kenya. The Central African Republic was the first to declare a new outbreak on Monday, saying it spread to its capital, Bangui.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypoxIt is caused by a virus that originates in wild animals and occasionally jumps to people, who can transmit it to others.

“We are very concerned about the cases of monkeypox that are ravaging the seventh region of the country,” said the Minister of Public Health of the Central African Republic, Pierre Somsé, on Monday.

Mpox became a focus of global concern during an international outbreak in 2022 in which the disease spread to more than 100 countries and has been endemic in parts of central and western Africa for decades.

The World Health Organization said in November that it had confirmed sexual transmission of mpox in the Congo for the first time. African scientists warned this could make the disease difficult to contain.

Although mox epidemics in the West have been contained with the help of vaccines and treatments, they have hardly been available in parts of Africa where several countries have reported outbreaks in recent months.

The continent’s worst-affected country is Congo, which has recorded more than 12,000 cases and at least 470 deaths this year. in its greatest outbreak. South Africa, which last recorded a mox case in 2022, has also reported an outbreak this year.

In the Central African Republic, where the infection is most common in remote areas, authorities called for public support to aid the government’s efforts to curb the spread of the disease.

The East African Community regional bloc also issued a statement alerting member states about the disease in Congo, which borders five countries in the region. One of them, Burundi, has already confirmed three cases.

Andrea Aguer Ariik Malueth, deputy secretary general of the bloc, on Monday urged the group’s partner states to “provide the necessary information about the disease and take preventive measures.”