Kenya has detected its first case of mpox, the health ministry said on Wednesday, as the regional East African bloc urged caution in the face of an outbreak.
The case of the viral infection was detected in a passenger at a border crossing in southern Kenya, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the person was travelling from neighbouring Uganda to Rwanda through Kenya.
It followed an announcement from Burundi on July 25 of three confirmed cases, while the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 20 reported more than 11,000 suspected cases including around 450 deaths.
The outbreak triggered a warning on Monday from the eight-member East African Community (EAC), which called on countries “to educate their citizens on how to protect themselves and prevent the spread of mpox”.
The bloc would “convene a meeting of health experts to deliberate on the situation”, it said, without giving a date.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the DRC.
It has since been mainly limited to certain West and Central African nations, with people mainly catching it from infected animals, such as when eating bushmeat.
In May 2022, mpox infections surged worldwide. That surge was driven by a new subtype, dubbed Clade II, taking over from the Clade I subtype.
It prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern in July 2022, which it then ended in May 2023.
But since last September, a new and deadlier Clade I strain has been spreading in the DRC. Testing revealed it was a mutated variant of Clade I, called Clade Ib.
The WHO recommends populations continue to remain vigilant over the virus.