WHO: Mpox Cases In Congo Epicenter May Be “Plateauing”

The AP (11/11) reports that “the World Health Organization said mpox cases in the region of Congo where a new and more infectious variant was first detected appear to be ‘plateauing,’ even as the virus continues to increase in other regions of the country, as well as in Burundi and Uganda.” In a report Monday, WHO “said the number of mpox infections ‘shows a general rising trend’ but that they may have plateaued in South Kivu, where the more infectious form of mpox was first identified to be spreading earlier this year among sex workers and miners in the gold mining town of Kamituga.” Congo “reported fewer than 100 laboratory-confirmed mpox cases, down from nearly 400 in July.” So far, about 50,000 people in the country “have been immunized against mpox; the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate[s] that 3 million vaccines are needed to stop the outbreak.”