A MUTANT strain of mpox with "new pandemic potential" has been discovered in a small town in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to research.
The new bug is a descendant of the deadlier clade 1 but has evolved to become better at spreading and evading tests than its predecessor.
Some 108 cases of the concerning strain, clade 1b, have been discovered in Kamituga – a poor and densely packed gold mining town near the Rwandan border.
The variant is thought to kill 10 per cent of all people who become infected.
Writing about the virus in a pre-print which has not yet been peer-reviewed, scientists called for "urgent measures" to prevent another international outbreak.
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"Without intervention, this localised Kamituga outbreak harbours the potential to spread nationally and internationally," the authors wrote.
"Given the recent history of mpox outbreaks in DRC, we advocate for swift action by endemic countries and the international community to avert another global mpox outbreak."
Mpox, formally known as monkeypox, is a viral infection that spreads through close contact, causing flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.
A milder version of mpox sparked a global epidemic in 2022, when it spread to more than 100 countries - including the UK.
It predominantly affected gay and bisexual men and mostly spread via sexual contact.
Experts are concerned the "highly mobile" population of Kamituga could be the perfect breeding ground for spreading the new virus.
People in the village, including miners and sex workers, often travel to and from Kamituga for work, including from nearby Rwanda and Burundi.
On top of that, the local health system is "ill
-equipped" to handle a "large-scale epidemic", and the people in the area "do not seek care", the authors warned.
The researchers said a fall in immunity, originally from the smallpox vaccine, could be behind the sudden outbreak.
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Spreading in children
In the paper, which tracked 241 suspected cases reported between October and February, scientists found transmission was “primarily linked to sexual contact”.
The average age of those infected in Kamituga was 22.
And unlike in previous outbreaks, half the patients were women, and 15 per cent were children under 15.
Almost a third (29 per cent) were sex workers, however, it is not yet clear whether the outbreak in the DRC was driven by sexual contact.
Some 85 per cent of people had genital lesions, while 10 per cent were hospitalised, and two people died.
The experts have called for the rollout of vaccines, drugs, heightened surveillance and for contact tracing measures to be deployed in the area.
The findings were discussed at a meeting of health ministers held by the Africa Centres for Disease Control last week, according to The Telegraph.