LONDON (AP) 鈥 The World Health Organization said it has confirmed sexual transmission of mpox in Congo for the first time as the country experiences its biggest-ever outbreak, a worrying development that African scientists warn could make it more difficult to stop the disease.
In a statement issued late Thursday, the U.N. health agency said a resident of Belgium traveled in March and tested positive for mpox, or monkeypox, shortly afterward. WHO said the individual 鈥渋dentified himself as a man who has sexual relations with other men鈥 and that he had gone to several underground clubs for gay and bisexual men.
Among his sexual contacts, five later tested positive for mpox, WHO said.
鈥淭his is the first definitive proof of sexual transmission of monkeypox in Africa,鈥 Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups, said. 鈥淭he idea that this kind of transmission could not be happening here has now been debunked."
has been endemic in parts of central and west for decades, where it mostly jumped into humans from infected rodents and caused limited outbreaks. Last year, among gay and bisexual men in Europe hit more than 100 countries. WHO declared the outbreak as a , and it has caused about 91,000 cases to date.
WHO noted there were dozens of 鈥渄iscrete鈥 clubs in Congo where men have sex with other men, including members who travel to other parts of Africa and Europe. The agency described the recent mpox outbreak as 鈥渦nusual鈥 and said it highlighted the risk the disease could spread widely .
WHO added that the mpox outbreak this year in Congo, which has infected more than 12,500 people and killed about 580, also marked the first time the disease has been identified in the capital of Kinshasa and in the conflict-ridden province of South Kivu. Those figures are roughly double the mpox toll in 2020, making it Congo's biggest-ever outbreak, WHO said.
Virologist Tomori said that even those figures were likely an underestimate and had implications for the rest of Africa, given the continent's often patchy disease surveillance.
鈥淲hat's happening in Congo is probably happening in other parts of Africa,鈥 he said. 鈥淪exual transmission of monkeypox is likely established here, but (gay) communities are hiding it because of the draconian (anti-LGBTQ+) laws in several countries,鈥 he added.
He warned that driving people at risk for the virus underground would make the disease harder to curb.
The mpox virus causes fever, chills, rash and lesions on the face or genitals. Most people recover within several weeks without requiring hospitalization.
WHO said the risk of mpox spreading to other countries in Africa and globally 鈥渁ppears to be significant," adding that there could be 鈥減otentially more severe consequences鈥 than the worldwide epidemic last year.
Tomori lamented that while the mpox outbreaks in Europe and North America prompted mass among affected populations, were being proposed for Africa.
鈥淒espite the thousands of cases in Congo, no vaccines have arrived,鈥 he noted. Even after mpox epidemics subsided in the West, or treatments were made available for Africa.
鈥淲e have been saying for years in Africa that monkeypox is a problem," he said. 鈥淣ow that sexual transmission has been confirmed here, this should be a signal to everyone to take it much more seriously.鈥
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute鈥檚 Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
