World Health Organization said on Tuesday that there was an urgent need to address the spread of monkeypox in Africawhile scientists separately warned about the existence dangerous strain V Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“There is urgent need to resolve recent increase in monkeypox cases in Africa,” he said. Rosamund LewisWHO technical manager for the disease, in an advisory note to journalists.

At another briefing John Claude Udahemukafrom the University of Rwanda, which is fighting an outbreak in the hard-to-reach Congolese province of South Kivu, said that the strain that is spreading there is extremely dangerous. The mortality rate is about 5% in adults and 10% in children.

This year some 8,600 cases of monkeypox And 410 deathsChris Cachita, a doctor in charge of the country’s disease control program, told Reuters last week.

Monkeypox is a viral infection that transmitted through intimate contactcalling symptoms similar to those flu And injuries full of pus. In most cases, the disease is mild, but can be fatal.

Another, less serious form of the virus is will be distributed worldwide in 2022, mainly through sexual contact between men who have had sex with men. This prompted the WHO to declare a public health emergency.