Guinea records first mpox case

Guinea has confirmed its first case of mpox, the health ministry in the West African nation said Wednesday, without giving further details.

The minister of health ordered an emergency meeting with the ministry's partners on Tuesday "on the detection of the first case" of mpox in the country, a statement said.

"Tuesday's meeting was used by the National Health Security Agency to present the preparedness and response plan, together with a budget", it added

Requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, a Ministry of Health official told AFP "it's confirmed that the first case has been discovered in the sub-prefecture of Koyama," near the Liberian border.

Mpox's resurgence and the detection in the Democratic Republic of Congo of a new strain, dubbed Clade 1b, prompted the World Health Organization to declare its highest international alert level on August 14.

Cases are surging in the region, with outbreaks reported in the DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

Mpox has also been detected in Asia and Europe.

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The first delivery of almost 100,000 doses of mpox vaccines will arrive in the DRC on Thursday, according to the African Union's health watchdog.

More than 17,500 cases and 629 deaths have been reported in the country since the start of the year, according to the WHO.

Formerly called monkeypox, mpox is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

The disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.