Africa

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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Biden administration announces new partnership with 50 countries to stifle future pandemics President Joe Biden's administration is launching a program that will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the COVID-19 outbreak. AP News

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Tens of millions facing hunger and water shortages as extreme drought and floods sweep southern Africa | CNN More than 24 million people face hunger, malnutrition and water scarcity as experts warn the crisis could become an “unimaginable humanitarian situation” Sarah Dean CNN

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The warning from Oxfam on Wednesday came as Zimbabwe joined other southern African nations in declaring its drought a national disaster, following earlier declarations by Zambia and Malawi....

Mpox vaccine boosters necessary to restore faded protection, study shows - UPI.com Vaccine protection against mpox fades quickly in the human immune system, even in people who've received the full two-dose regimen, a new real-world study shows. UPI

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Antibody levels fell to low or near zero within the first few months of getting the vaccine, unless the person had previously received a smallpox vaccine, scientists reported Saturday at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona.