next the highly infectious disease empx has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization the disease formerly known as monkey pox has spread rapidly across Central and East Africa since the start of the year the initial outbreak was in the Democratic Republic of Congo which has now registered 15,600 cases since the start of the year and more than 500 deaths Health officials say the new strain of empo may be the most deadly yet just inward reports it starts with flu like symptoms and ends with this this is what moox
which used to be called monkey pox can do here in the Democratic Republic of Congo the virus is common but it's spreading it's transmitted by physical contact or through the air 5-year-old srin has now recovered but it was a terrifying moment for her mom she had a high fever and then she started to get lesions on her body she had rashes on her arms on her abdomen and even on her tongue I've been told it was a serious illness that could kill her so I took her to the hospital although it can be sexually transmitted
in the crowded camps of the Eastern DRC most of the patients are children so far we have 130 suspected cases and half of them under five just 5% are adults the most common way to get infected is direct contact from a sick person and in the camps children they play together the latest outbreak has killed 450 people in the DRC it seems a new variant called CA 1B is more virulent and more dangerous and it's now been detected in neighboring countries including Bundi Kenya Rwanda Uganda and the Central African Republic and so the World Health
organiz ation has declared a global Health Emergency it's clear that a coordinated International response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives a publical emergency of international concern is the highest level of alarm under International health law it is possible to vaccinate against empo as happened in previous outbreaks but these vaccines are not widely available in the DRC where these children had to on their immune systems the who is warning if more is not done to stop the spread of this new variant the consequences will spread far beyond these camps Joe Inwood BBC News
