[Source: Reuters]

Gabon has registered its first case of mpox, the health ministry said in a statement that did not specify which variant of the viral infection was recorded.

The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency, after an outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo spread to neighbouring countries and a new form of the virus, clade Ib, triggered concerns about speed of transmission.

The Gabonese ministry said it had officially declared its first case of mpox on Thursday, when a 30-year-old man tested positive after returning from Uganda and developing a fever and skin lesions consistent with the disease.