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STORY: Africa's top public health agency has declared an mpox emergency, as a new variant moves across Democratic Republic of Congo's borders.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the viral infection was spreading at an alarming rate

Mpox is transmitted through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.

Most cases are mild, but it can kill.

The new variant of an endemic strain of the virus appears to spread more easily through close contact, particularly among children.

Epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim says the problem may be more severe than thought.

''The evidence we have on the number of cases, the number of deaths, they are just the tip of the iceberg. And the reason is that mpox is largely a mild condition. We have limited surveillance. We have limited capacity to do the testing that's required. We have limited capacity to do the contact tracing and the reporting.''

The CDC says that over 15,000 cases and 461 mpox related deaths were reported in Africa this year so far.

That's a 160% increase from the same period last year.

Mpox has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades after it was first detected in humans in 1970.

A milder version spread to over a hundred countries in 2022, largely through sexual contact.

It prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare its highest level public health emergency.

The emergency ended 10 months later as the health crisis had come under control.