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Agence France-Presse

“I felt very sick and scared, I couldn’t even walk any more,” said mpox patient Samuel Nduwimana in Burundi’s economic capital Bujumbura, one of around 170 confirmed cases in the small African country.
Talking to journalists from an isolation ward in the city’s King Khaled Teaching Hospital, Nduwimana’s face and upper body are scattered with painful-looking marks.
“I started to lose my appetite, I had a fever and I felt a small pimple on my genitals that hurt a lot,” he said, describing the onset of symptoms, which he hoped was malaria.
“I didn’t even know what I was suffering from,” said Nduwimana, but as his conditions worsened he eventually sought treatment.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals that can also be passed between humans through close physical contact.
While it has been known for decades, a new more deadly and more transmissible strain – known as Clade 1b – has driven the recent uptick in cases.
Cases in East Africa have surged, with Burundi confirming 171 earlier this week, Kenya finding its second case on Friday and neighbouring Uganda reporting four cases in total.
Globally, cases have also been reported in Europe and Asia, with the World Health Organization declaring an international health emergency over the latest outbreak.
Burundian authorities are scrambling to combat the outbreak, with doctor Odette Nsavyimana treating those infected.

“Sometimes patients come in a severe, critical condition with a fever of 39 degrees Celsius,” she told journalists, swathed in protective gear including gloves and a mask.
The disease causes “very painful and itchy lesions that need urgent treatment”, she said.
The centre provides free treatment and has a capacity for around 50 patients, according to Liliane Nkengurutse, national director for the Centre for Public Health Emergency Operations.
Cases of the disease were increasing, after it spread from “hot zones” on the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with “cases [now] almost all over the country”, she told journalists.
The DRC has recorded 16,700 cases and more than 570 deaths this year, according to the central African country’s health minister.
In Burundi, Nkengurutse said, they were acting quickly to identify, isolate and then treat patients.
“We still don’t have any deaths, because we’re lucky enough to be able to detect cases quickly and take care of them early,” she said.
In the ward, Nduwimana, who praised the free treatment he had received, had a message for those who are worried they might have mpox.
“They need to rush to hospital for treatment,” he said.
“This epidemic is very serious, it hurts a lot, you’re in too much pain, and you don’t know what to do.”


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Africa

Burundi treats ‘sick and scared’ mpox patients amid rising cases worldwide

People collect water from taps at the Muja camp for internally displaced persons amid an outbreak of Mpox in Nyiragongo territory, near Goma in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on August 19, 2024. The DRC has reported 16,700 cases and 570 deaths from mpox this year. Photo: Reuters

A man infected with Mpox lies on a bed inside a ward at the Kamenge University Hospital’s Mpox treatment centre in Bujumbura Burundi, on August 22, 2024. Photo: AFP

Pakistan reports first case of deadly mpox virus

A child with mpox gets treatment at a hospital in the Nyiragongo territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The World Health Organization declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern, sounding the alarm over its potential for further international transmission. Photo: Xinhua

A nurse takes a sample from a child declared a suspected case Mpox, at the treatment centre in Munigi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: Reuters

Thailand confirms Clade 1b mpox case, second outside Africa

Thailand’s Department of Disease Control on the outskirts of Bangkok. Thailand has detected 800 cases of mpox Clade 2 since 2022, but so far not detected a case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b variants. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mpox surge in DR Congo: hospital overwhelmed with patients as virus vaccine demand rises

Patients listen to a doctor outside the Mpox treatment centre at Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital on August 17. Photo: AFP

A child his helped by her mother as a health worker looks on at the Mpox treatment centre at Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital on August 17. Photo: AFP

What we know about the new mpox outbreak

A health worker speaks to women about mpox prevention at a clinic in Munigi, eastern Congo, on August 16. Photo: AP 

A woman walks past a sign that reads stop monkeypox at a clinic in Munigi, eastern Congo, Friday, August 16. Photo: AP

A health worker attends to a girl suffering from mpox, at a treatment centre in Munigi, eastern Congo, on August 16. Photo: AP

Mpox is not the new Covid-19, says WHO official Hans Kluge

A medical staff labels an mpox sample taken from a patient in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on August 19. Photo: EPA-EFE

WHO European director, Hans Kluge says that mpox is unlike previous global pandemics such as Covid-19. Photo: AFP

News

World

Cases of mpox in East Africa have surged, with Burundi confirming 171 cases earlier this week in ‘hot zones’ on its borders


Patients and doctors urged vigilance for the disease which causes “painful and itchy lesions that need urgent treatment”.


Mpox

Burundi