Disease X: What is the illness spreading in Congo?

A mysterious 'Disease X' is spreading in a remote region of Congo. Experts say it's probably a known illness — but which one? And can it be treated?

Transcript

00:00The new Mpox strain is spreading, and changing, fast.

00:07The virus is morphing in areas where experts lack the funding and equipment to properly

00:12track it, meaning there are several unknowns about its severity and how it's transmitting.

00:19The new strain, clade 1b, was first identified in April in samples collected from a gold

00:25mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu province.

00:35It is potentially more lethal than the Mpox outbreak in 2022, which was driven primarily

00:40by male-to-male sexual contact.

00:43The clade 1b strain can be transmitted through any kind of physical contact or contaminated

00:49material.

00:52The crowded conditions of Congo's refugee camps have caused the virus to spread rapidly.

00:58On August 13th, Mpox was declared a public health emergency in Africa.

01:03Just a day later, the WHO released this statement.

01:08Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes

01:16a public health emergency of international concern.

01:21The WHO says that Congo now has over 18,000 cases, and over 600 have died as a result

01:29of Mpox this year.

01:33At least 12 countries across Africa have registered a spike in cases of the virus.

01:42Sweden was the first country outside of Africa to record a case of the clade 1b variant.

01:49From a person who had travelled to an affected area of Africa.

01:55Children have been disproportionately affected by this outbreak, accounting for approximately

02:0070% of cases in Congo.

02:02You see children in the IGP camps, they are always playing together, so they have time

02:09together.

02:10They don't really care about the distance, social distance, they don't care about that.

02:14So they play together, they are always together.

02:17And you can also see in the household, they even pass the night on the same bed.

02:25Children as well as pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems are more likely

02:30to suffer severe symptoms and die.

02:33Children who contract the disease are more than twice as likely to die than adults.

02:41The Congolese government hopes to start vaccinations soon, with children first in line.

02:46But the arrival of shots has been slow.

02:51Efforts to contain this disease are becoming increasingly more difficult.