Fears new 'most dangerous' mpox strain could cross borders

All countries should be preparing for "this new strain before it spreads to other places, before it is too late," John Claude Udahemuka, a researcher at the University of Rwanda studying the outbreak, told AFP. A global outbreak of a new strain of Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, in 2022 spread to more than 110 countries, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men. That was the clade II strain. But there have been regular outbreaks of the clade I strain -- which is 10 times deadlier -- in Africa since it was first detected in DR Congo in 1970.