DR Congo conflict: 500 mpox patients flee clinics after rebel looting
More than 500 mpox patients have fled clinics in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over the last month amid the current conflict. Officials at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a leading health agency on the continent, have said they are worried as the missing patients risk spreading the highly contagious disease that is suspected to have killed at 900 people in DR Congo last year. The patients fled from facilities in Goma and Bukavu - two cities that descended into chaos as they were seized by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels over the past weeks. "We were looted. We lost equipment. It was a disaster," Dr Samuel Muhindo, in charge of a clinic in Goma, told the BBC. Mpox - formerly known as monkeypox - can cause symptoms such as lesions, headaches and fever. According to Africa CDC, since the start of this year almost 2,890 mpox cases and 180 deaths have been reported in the country, which has been at the epicentre of several recent outbreaks. Follow link for full story....