Mpox Clade IIb Virus Introduction into Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, July 2025

  1. Tony Wawina-Bokalanga
  2. Eddy Kinganda-Lusamaki
  3. Christian Ngandu
  4. Prince Akil-Bandali
  5. Jérémie Kundey-Mafu
  6. Nadege Ngombe
  7. Laurens Liesenborghs
  8. Princesse Paku-Tshambu
  9. Lorenzo Subissi
  10. Pauline-Chloé Muswamba-Kayembe
  11. Samy Tessi-Mvutukulu
  12. Jacques Santini-Mafuta
  13. Gradi Luakanda-Ndelemo
  14. Olga Ntumba-Tshitenge
  15. Mory Keita
  16. Israel Cinkobu-Bualukengu
  17. Emmanuel Lokilo-Lofiko
  18. Fiston Cikaya-Kankolongo
  19. Sikoti Josaphat
  20. Cris Kacita
  21. Adelar Lofungola
  22. Judith Tete-Sitra
  23. Raphael Lumembe-Numbi
  24. Elzedek Mabika-Bope
  25. Adrienne Amuri-Aziza
  26. Daan Jansen
  27. Jean-Claude Makangara-Cigolo
  28. Jeanine Nkakulu
  29. Yap Boum
  30. Ngashi Ngongo
  31. Sofonias Tessema
  32. Nick Loman
  33. Áine O’Toole
  34. Anne W. Rimoin
  35. Pierre Akilimali
  36. Nicole A. Hoff
  37. Jason Kindrachuk
  38. Steve Ahuka-Mundeke
  39. Martine Peeters
  40. Dieudonné Mwamba
  41. Koen Vercauteren
  42. Andrew Rambaut
  43. Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum
  44. Placide Mbala-Kingebeni
Read the full article

Discuss this preprint

Start a discussion What are Sciety discussions?

Listed in

This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.
Log in to save this article

Abstract

Clade I mpox virus (MPXV) is endemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Recent studies have described the changing epidemiology of mpox in the country, which has been mainly characterized by the emergence of new MPXV lineages, Clade Ib/sh2023 and Ia/sh2024, associated with sustained human-to-human transmission. Both Clade Ib/sh2023 and Ia/sh2024 are co-circulating in Kinshasa, the capital city of the DRC. Here, we report the first two cases of Clade IIb/sh2017 identified in Kinshasa, DRC, imported from West Africa and locally transmitted. Clinical specimens were collected and tested by PCR. We performed whole genome sequencing using a tiled-amplicon sequencing approach with Clade IIb MPXV-specific primers. The phylogenetic tree shows that Kinshasa Clade IIb MPXV is assigned to Clade IIb/sh2017 within the newly designated lineage G.1, as identified in January 2025 in Sierra-Leone.

Article activity feed

  1. Version published to 10.3390/v18010087
  2. Version published to 10.20944/preprints202511.1811.v1