The mpox virus is currently rampaging through the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 2,000 cases since the start of the year – some of them are expected to have been caused by the new clade 1b variant
The alarm has been raised over the mutation of a new strain of mpox.
The variant is said to be “highly transmissible” and is currently rampaging through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The virus comes from the 1a strain of mpox, which is said to be much deadlier with the capacity to kill 10 per cent of its infected patients.
Though it’s less deadly, officials are worried because the mutation – known as APOBEC3 – is more infectious and can be passed from person to person more easily. Already, the mutation has been detected in a strain that has already spread from Africa to the UK.
The health officials are calling on the international community to issue a strong response to stop a larger breakout spreading beyond the DRC. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) data for 2025, there have already been more than 2,000 mpox cases in the country since the start of the year. It’s unknown how many of these cases or deaths were caused by the new mutated strain because there are older versions still being transmitted.
In a briefing Dr Ngashi Ngongo, head of the mpox incident management team at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC ), said: “We have seen a new variant of Clade 1a with APOBEC3 that has been detected, and unlike the old 1a variant, this one has got high potential for higher transmissibility.”
At the start of February, the NHS urged three groups of people to come forward for an important vaccine as a new case of a potentially deadly virus strain was detected in England. A new diagnosis of clade Ib mpox was reported by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on January 31.
So far, eight cases of clade Ib have been detected in England since October 2024. This is different from the strain of mpox that caused an outbreak in the UK in 2022. The groups are men who has sex with men and:
- Have multiple partners
- Participate in group sex
- Or attend sex-on-premises venues
“Staff at these venues may also be eligible,” the NHS adds.
