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A drone view of a Liberian-flagged cargo ship anchored after Argentine authorities quarantined it on the Parana River over a suspected case of mpox onboard, according to the government, in San Lorenzo, Argentina August 21, 2024.
“Not COVID,” but caution: WHO on high alert as new mpox strain spreads
Thailand confirmed on Thursday that the country has its first case of the new, more dangerous strain of mpox, and Argentina has quarantined a cargo ship in the Parana River over a suspected case onboard.
The news comes as global public health authorities raise the alarm about the fast-spreading variant of the virus, which has already surged in central and eastern Africa. So far in 2024, those regions have recorded over 17,000 infections, and while cases are usually mild, more than 500 people have died.
Mpox is a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms. It is typically transmitted through intimate physical contact, face-to-face breathing, infected skin lesions, or contaminated objects.
Why is this strain different? The new clade 1b strain has caused concern because it seems to spread more easily through routine close contact, and it is affecting women and children in larger numbers. It is fatal in about 3.6% of cases, especially for children.
Although the World Health Organization has issued a global public health emergency warning, it insists this “is not the new COVID,” and that the spread can be controlled through public health efforts — like enhanced surveillance and tracing, as well as isolating those infected — while the new strain is studied.
Trap Women's Final - Chateauroux Shooting Centre, Deols, France - July 31, 2024. Adriana Ruano Oliva of Guatemala in action.
Hard Numbers: Guatemala wins first-ever gold medal, F-16s fly in Ukraine, CAR meets on mpox outbreak, China’s housing market declines
1: Adriana Ruano wonGuatemala its first-ever gold medal at the Olympics in shooting on Wednesday. Going into the 2024 Games, there were69 countries that had never won a Summer Olympics medal and another 37 that had never won gold. We’ll be watching to see how much shorter that list gets as the Games progress.
60: American-made F-16 fighter jets have begun to arrive in Ukraine and are expected to give Kyiv’s air defenses a much-needed boost in its fight against Russia. Although the US approved the delivery last August, it won’t be providing any of its own planes. Instead, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 of them over the coming months in what is likely to be a slow trickle of deliveries.
20,000: Central African Republic officials say they are meeting with the governments of neighboring countries to stop the spread of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, which has been rapidly spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and Nigeria. The DRC alone has seen20,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths from mpox, mainly among children, since the start of 2023.
20: In a rocky start to the third quarter, data shows a continued decline for China’s property sector. Transactions among the country’s top 100 real estate developers fell20% last month from a year ago, equivalent to about $38.7 billion. On a month-over-month basis, sales dropped 36%.