Mpox Infection in Pregnancy Spreading to Fetus, Africa CDC Says

(Bloomberg) -- The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has seen cases of mpox infection in pregnant women being passed on to unborn babies in central Africa, Director-General Jean Kaseya said.

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Africa CDC doesn’t yet have details of the total number of cases, Kaseya said at a briefing Thursday. Scientists are rushing to understand a complex mosaic of infection patterns of the disease endemic to the region that’s become a global health emergency.

In parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there are areas where children younger than five account for 38% of the total cases and most of these are babies, he said. The disease, which causes lesions that can result in blindness and disfigurement, is also being transmitted from breastfeeding mothers or when babies leave the maternity ward and come into contact with other family members.

“We are conducting a number of studies to understand the epidemiology,” Kaseya said. Congo has detected about 20,465 cases and 635 deaths this year.

The United Nations is bolstering efforts to contain the spread of mpox in children under the age of 15 in Congo, it said in a separate statement. Public health and aid agencies found that the first vaccines to arrive in the country aren’t being given to the nation’s youngest and most vulnerable patients, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Schools in Kinshasa, the Congo’s densely populated capital, reopened last week after annual holidays and unless protection measures such as washing of hands and physical distancing are implemented, there is a rising risk of a more rapid spread in the city, Kaseya said.

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