The first case of MPOX (formerly known as monkeypox) infection has been confirmed in Tanzania, East Africa, according to the local daily newspaper The Citizen on the 11th (local time).
Jenista Magama, Tanzania's Minister of Health, stated in a press release the previous day, "Two people showing MPOX symptoms were tested, and on the 9th, they were confirmed positive," adding, "One of them is a truck driver who entered Dar es Salaam from a neighboring country."
Both patients are isolated and receiving treatment, and epidemiological investigations, including identifying contacts, are underway, Minister Magama added. The exact infection route and whether it corresponds to the new variant sublineage 1b (Clade 1b) have not yet been confirmed.
According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of the 5th, suspected MPOX cases reported on the African continent this year have reached 24,272. Among these, 6,034 cases from 22 countries were finally confirmed, and during the same period, 25 patients died from MPOX in 15 countries.
Most of the outbreak cases and deaths originated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), the source of the variant MPOX.
MPOX is an acute febrile rash illness caused by a viral infection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an international public health emergency (PHEIC) in August last year after the highly fatal and rapidly spreading 1b type MPOX began spreading mainly in Africa early last year.
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