Though the surge in Sierra Leone has received much of the attention, cases are also rising in two other countries in West Africa: Ghana and Liberia.
The test the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses to identify clade I mpox cases is 'most likely not reliable' for detection of the substrain identified in the study, the authors say.
Another mpox study today showed that dose-sparing vaccine administration of the Jynneos vaccine appeared to have worked.
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Though the risk remains very low, the CDC and state partners continue to look for the clade, including in wastewater samples.
As a novel clade spreads to the DRC's neighbors, it and other African countries are battling outbreaks involving two earlier clades.
Over the weekend South Africa said it now has 22 cases of the virus.
Some of the cases have been caused by what researchers are calling "clade 1b," a new mpox lineage identified in the DR Congo last year that is highly transmissible.
The trial will also assess if vaccinated individuals who contract mpox have more mild courses of illness.
The team arrived at 6 target pathogens: the viruses that cause polio, influenza A, influenza B, mpox, COVID-19, and measles.
South Africa is experiencing its first spike in clade 2 mpox detections since 2022, and outbreak findings suggest ongoing community spread.
If the country can tap vaccine donations, the tool could help the country battle its surge in novel clade 1 cases.
South Africa has identified 6 new mpox cases in an outbreak that began in late May.
Thirty-nine percent of all California mpox cases occurred in Los Angeles County.
