Warning over deadly mpox variant amid fears disease will cross borders An outbreak of mpox in Africa has health officials sounding the alarm for the public to get vaccinated before the disease spreads to North America.

US health authorities warned Thursday that a deadlier version of mpox (formerly monkeypox) spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could soon cross international borders, urging those at risk to get vaccinated.

Researchers estimate vaccines have saved 154 million lives over past half-century

An international team of health and medical researchers including workers at the WHO, working with economists and modeling specialists, has found that the use of vaccines to prevent or treat disease has saved the lives of approximately 154 million people over the past half-century.

In their study, published in The Lancet, the group used mathematical and statistical modeling to develop estimates for lives saved due to vaccines and then added them together to find the total.

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Congo struggles to contain its biggest mpox outbreak | AP News

A new form of mpox that may spread more easily found in Congo's biggest outbreak Scientists say a new form of mpox detected in a mining town in Congo might more easily spread among people. AP News

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Monkeypox virus: dangerous strain gains ability to spread through sex, new data suggest Nature - A cluster of mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sparks worries of a wider outbreak. Kozlov, Max nature

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Evidence from past outbreaks indicates that this strain, called clade I, is more lethal than the separate strain that sparked the 2022 outbreak. Clade I has for decades caused small outbreaks, often limited to a few households or communities, in Central Africa. Sexually acquired clade I infections had not been reported before last year.

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