The World Health Organization said it has confirmed sexual transmission of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the first time as the country’s 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 United Nations health agency said a resident of Belgium travelled to Congo in March and tested positive for monkeypox, shortly afterwards. WHO said the individual “identified himself as a man who has sexual relations with other men” and that he had gone to several underground clubs for gay and bisexual men.
Among his sexual contacts, five later tested positive for monkeypox, WHO said.
“This is the first definitive proof of sexual transmission of monkeypox in Africa,” Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups, said. “The idea that this kind of transmission could not be happening here has now been debunked.”
Monkeypox, sometimes called mpox, has been endemic in parts of Central and West Africa for decades, where it mostly jumped into humans from infected rodents and caused limited outbreaks. Last year, epidemics triggered mainly by sex among gay and bisexual men in Europe hit more than 100 countries. WHO declared the outbreak as a global emergency and it has caused about 91,000 cases to date.
Post from www.aljazeera.com