(NewsNation) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has alerted health care professionals to be vigilant for a more infectious strain of the virus causing monkeypox, which is currently spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The CDC said the new strain, Clade I MPXV, has not been detected in the United States but issued a Travel Health Notice advising individuals traveling to the DRC to minimize contact with sick individuals, avoid wild animals and abstain from consuming or preparing wild game.
A clade represents a broad grouping of viruses with distinct genetic and clinical characteristics.
The CDC identified the new strain as more contagious and causing more severe infections compared to the Clade II strain associated with the global outbreak in 2022-23, which primarily affected gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men.
In a statement, the World Health Organization said a resident of Belgium traveled to Congo in March and tested positive for mpox, or monkeypox, shortly afterward.
WHO said the individual “identified himself as a man who has sexual relations with other men” and that he had gone to several underground clubs for gay and bisexual men.
Among his sexual contacts, five later tested positive for mpox, WHO said.
“This is the first definitive proof of sexual transmission of monkeypox in Africa,” Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups, said. “The idea that this kind of transmission could not be happening here has now been debunked.”
As of January, according to reports, the DRC has reported over 12,500 clinically diagnosed but not laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox, along with nearly 600 suspected deaths from the virus.
This marks a significant increase from the annual average of 3,767 suspected cases reported in the years 2016 to 2021.
In the 2022-23 outbreak, more than 31,000 Americans were diagnosed with monkeypox, resulting in 55 deaths.
While a vaccine called Jynneos is available for monkeypox, the CDC notes low vaccination coverage in the U.S., with only 25% of eligible individuals receiving both doses for full protection.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.