Africa CDC says mpox outbreak could grow in DR Congo conflict zone

Yesterday during a briefing, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director-General Jean Kaseya, MD, MPH provided a situation update on the mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring countries, noting that 12 African countries are in an active phase of the outbreak, with the DRC still the epicenter of viral activity. 

In the past week, almost 10,000 suspected mpox cases and 85 related deaths have been reported across Africa. 

The 12 countries with active outbreaks are the DRC, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. 

“Out of these countries, we mostly have DRC, Uganda, and Burundi, where we have a huge number of reported cases,” said Kaseya.

Fighting in Goma has displaced 1 million 

Kaseya said the situation in the DRC is made worse by an ongoing conflict around the eastern city of Goma, which has left more than 1 million displaced. The M23 rebel offensive in Goma has led to widespread destruction, Kaseya said, with overwhelmed hospitals, power outages, and medical shortages. 

Kaseya said healthcare workers are also reporting outbreaks of measles and cholera in Goma in addition to mpox. So far, the conflict has killed 300 people in military violence, but Kaseya warned that number will climb if active outbreaks in the region are not contained. 

So far this year, DRC has seen cases mount, with almost 9,000 cases suspected and 85 deaths in that country since the start of 2025. Among confirmed cases in the DRC, children 15 years and younger account for 49.3% of cases. 

Kaseya said the DRC is having more success with a new vaccination strategy used in the past 10 days that distributes vaccines to hot spots, but millions still need to be vaccinated, including displaced people in Goma. 

People fleeing from the armed conflict in Goma increases the risk of spread [of mpox].

“We have a broad strategy today to vaccinate around 3.5 million people,” Kaseya said. “But people fleeing from the armed conflict in Goma increases the risk of spread [of mpox].”

UK reports another imported clade 1b case

Today the United Kingdom reported its eighth clade 1b mpox case, following a detection just days ago.

The case has no link to previous cases and was reported in London in a traveler who had just arrived back from Uganda.

“In the context of the outbreak in parts of Africa, we expect to see the occasional imported case of clade Ib mpox in the UK,” the UK Health Security Agency said. Overall the risk to the general population remains low. This is the second detection of imported clade 1b in the United Kingdom this week.