Mpox cases and deaths are surging in Africa, where outbreaks have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda since July.
The World Health Organization has declared a global public health emergency over the new variant of mpox, urging manufacturers to ramp up production of vaccines.
The disease – caused by a virus transmitted by infected animals but passed from human to human through close physical contact – causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.
While mpox has been known for decades, a new deadlier and more transmissible strain – known as Clade 1b – has driven the recent surge in cases.
Clade 1b causes death in about 3.6 per cent of cases, with children more at risk, according to the WHO.
Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, head of the Thai Department of Disease Control, said that mpox was much less likely to spread rapidly than COVID-19 because of the close contact needed to catch it.
Formerly called monkeypox, the virus was discovered in 1958 in Denmark, in monkeys kept for research.
DR Congo has reported more than 16,000 cases and 500 deaths this year.
