PRETORIA, November 11. /TASS/. The number of mpox cases in Africa has surpassed 50,000 this year, South Africa’s SABC radio station said, citing the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a public health agency of the African Union.

As many as 50,840 mpox cases have been confirmed in Africa since January 1, 2024, a 545% increase from the same period last year, it said.

In the past week alone, there were 2,532 recorded mpox cases in Africa, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi accounting for 86.7% of them. Morbidity is also growing in Uganda. However, no mpox cases have been reported in the past six weeks in Gabon, Guinea, Cameroon, and South Africa. Thirty-two patients died from mpox during the past week.

Central Africa is the epicenter of the current outbreak. Central African countries account for 85.8% of cases and 99.4% of fatalities.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a rare viral disease endemic to remote regions near tropical forests in Central and Western Africa. The first case of an animal transmitting the disease to humans was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. According to the WHO, this virus is usually transmitted to humans by wild animals, such as rodents and primates, while its secondary spread among humans is limited. Usually the lethality coefficient during mpox outbreaks ranges from 1% to 10% with the majority of fatalities affecting younger age groups.

Mpox is most often accompanied by a skin rash or mucosal lesions, which can last from two to four weeks. Additional symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.