A deadly, fast-spreading strain of the monkeypox virus has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on high alert.
The variant of the virus, which causes the severe disease known as mpox, kills up to 10% of the people who are infected, according to the World Health Organization.
“The virus variant is known to be more virulent. If it adapts better to human-to-human transmission, that presents a risk,” Rosamund Lewis of the WHO’s mpox surveillance team told Reuters.
Last year, a less-deadly variant of the monkeypox virus known as Clade II spread worldwide (a clade is a genetic subtype of virus). More than 31,000 Americans were diagnosed with mpox during last year’s outbreak, and 55 died.
But now, the rapid spread of the deadlier Clade I subtype of the virus has been reported by health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the disease has spread to 22 of the DRC’s 26 provinces.
Poster Comment:
Bioweapon