Children make up half of mpox cases in Guinea-Bissau as epidemic spreads

West African country reports 46 suspected cases in outbreak declared in July, amid fears virus may be spreading undetected

More than half of the mpox cases reported in Guinea-Bissau have been among children, local authorities have said, almost two months since the country announced an epidemic.

A national outbreak was declared on 4 July, just over a week after a 27-year-old woman became the first confirmed case of mpox in the west African country. Since then, there have been seven confirmed cases and 46 suspected cases. Half of those patients have been children, with 16 under the age of four.