How Canadian scientists helped uncover sexually transmitted cases of a deadlier mpox strain – CBC

Team included researchers from Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mpox outbreak is still raging

Nov 29, 2023

If 2022 was the year mpox infections exploded globally, 2023 was the year much of the world stopped paying attention.

Yet Canadian researchers, in collaboration with scientists working on the ground in hot spots such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), are still shining a spotlight on the virus that sparked last year’s unprecedented global outbreak — and one that still seems capable of new surprises.

One joint Canadian-DRC research team, co-led by Jason Kindrachuk from the University of Manitoba, has documented what Kindrachuk calls a “massive red flag”: the first known cases of a deadlier strain of mpox spreading through sexual contact.

“This is a real concern for us in regard to the potential for the disease to spread broadly,” he said.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/sexually-transmitted-mpox-strain-1.7042973