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STORY: :: File

Scientists studying the new mpox strain that has spread out of the Democratic Republic of Congo say the virus is changing faster than expected.

And it's often happening in areas where experts do not have the funding or equipment to properly track the virus.

Reuters spoke to half a dozen scientists in Africa, Europe and the U.S. who outlined a number of unknowns.

OGOINA: "We are still working blindly in Africa.”

Dr. Dimie Ogoina is an infectious diseases expert in Nigeria who chairs the World Health Organization’s mpox emergency committee.

“We don't have the required knowledge about mpox's natural history, transmission dynamics, risk factors of mpox.” // “You need to understand your disease for you to develop or design preventive strategies against such a disease.”

:: CDC

:: File

Mpox — formerly known as monkeypox — is a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms.

Cases are usually mild but they can be deadly.

The virus has been around in Africa for decades but an international surge in 2022 prompted the WHO to declare a global health emergency for about 10 months.

:: August 14, 2024

Now there’s a new strain, and a new WHO emergency declaration.

WHO DIRECTOR-GENERAL TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS: "The situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern..."

:: August 15, 2024

:: World Health Organization

The U.N. agency says Congo has had more than 600 mpox deaths this year, and more than 18,000 suspected cases of the new strain and its earlier iteration.

There have been cases in four other African countries, as well as in Sweden and Thailand among people who had traveled to Africa.

Scientists say a response is complicated by several outbreaks happening at once.

In some cases, the spread has been linked to human contact with infected animals.

It can also spread through close contact with an infected person.

Mutated versions of the virus can essentially be considered a sexually transmitted disease, says South African epidemiologist Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, who chairs the Africa CDC's mpox advisory committee.

“It's case identification, contact tracing and vaccinating and monitoring and treating and giving prophylaxis to contacts. So this is not rocket science. We do this for other infections and so we can do it for mpox."

An Africa CDC senior official said on Wednesday that the continent has secured less than 10% of an estimated $245 million needed to fight the surging outbreak.

:: File

And there's no timeline yet on when hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses might reach the DRC.