GOMA, July 24 (Reuters) - Scars from the mpox pustules are still visible on 7-year old Grace Kabuo’s face, as well as on a handful of her playmates at a camp for displaced people near Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Grace has otherwise recovered from the virus. Her mother Denise Kahindo says she is still unsure how her daughter was infected earlier this month.
“I just helplessly noticed the symptoms on her body,” she said.
For disease experts, Grace's case embodies a new concern about mpox, which was first identified over 50 years ago. Her infection was caused by a new
variant that appears to be more capable of transmitting between people than previous strains.
Local doctors say they have seen 130 suspected mpox cases, almost entirely in children and adolescents, in the last four weeks at a nearby facility that treats displaced people from the camps in the last four weeks.
