Circulating for years

How the Mpox virus made the leap from Nigeria

Genetic analyses show that the Mpox virus - formerly known as "monkeypox" - has been circulating in human populations in Nigeria since 2015. However, it remained under the radar for a long time - with a slow exponential growth in which the number of cases doubled every two years.(Bild: AFP/APA/Glody MURHABAZI)

It is a "health emergency of international scope": There has been nervousness within the World Health Organization (WHO) for weeks due to the spread of a new variant of the viral disease Mpox, formerly known as "monkeypox". There are fears that it will spread globally - but the problem was seen coming.

When a 35-year-old man with lesions all over his body entered the university hospital in the Nigerian port city of Port Harcourt on May 1, 2017, the medical staff there were at a loss. A boil had eaten its way into the man's penis, recalls the dermatologist treating him, Bolaji Otike-Odibi. "It actually looked like it was going to fall off," she describes the disturbing sight.