Mpox in DRC: Recent Developments

00:01 What is the situation of impacts in DRC? Most of the the provinces of DRC are affected by the disease.

00:17 Previously only Équateur Province and Kasai Province were affected by this disease. So three major factors can explain the increase in cases of grade one MPOX virus in DRC. The first is the increased zoonotic transmission. So bushmeat as the the main source of animal protein in remote areas.

00:53 Second is the increase in the number of individuals not not immunized against orthopoxvirus in the DRC since the cessation of smallpox vaccination in 1980. And finally, the changing nature of MPOX epidemiology with potential of sexual close contact human to human transmission of clade Ia and even Ib .

01:27 So to show you the difference between clade I and poxvirus and clade II in in in clade I, we have generalized centrifugal rash.

01:42 As I said previously in clade II, uh, the the rash is often localized in the annual genital regions.

01:54 And uh, in clade I, lesions are ocular ocular involvement in clade II, this oral presentation. And in both you have swollen lymph lymph nodes and clade I affect typically the palms of hands and soles of feet. So in clade II we have proctitis and arthritis. But now we we began also to see that clade Ia and clade Ib can also give the genital lesions and the mortality is uh relatively high 1 to 10% in case of clade I monkeypox and only minus than 1%, less than 1% in clade II MPOX. As I showed you previously, clade Ia and clade Ib are co-circulating in in Kinshasa.

03:06 In summary. In summary, we know that MPOX emerges as the primary orthopoxvirus infection was smallpox eradication, and three decades of dedicated research on clinical, epidemiological, and ecological features has been started at the National Institute of Biomedical Research with the participation of partners from Europe, America, and Asia. MPOX has evolved from an exotic neglected disease to a global health priority.

04:12 We need equitable access to vaccines and therapeutics across all regions, particularly in endemic African countries. And finally, for research priorities, we think that it is important for the implementation of multi-country, randomized clinical trials and also to conduct the assessment of experimental drugs and vaccine effectiveness.

04:50 The PALM project was a model of these implementation of research implementation.

05:01 And the PALM demonstrated that mortality can be reduced through the quality of supportive care, and it has been served as a model for pandemic and epidemic preparedness.

05:29 So, this is the image of the contact with the opinion leaders in the villages.

05:37 We have to establish a dialogue with the opinion leaders in the community to build trust for field research activities. And we have also to be integrated in the population to build also trust for the field research activities and surveillance. And finally, I want to thank you for your attention and goodbye.