The company Contipharma has obtained marketing authorization in the Democratic Republic of Congo for its test for the mpox virus, previously called monkeypox, it announced on Friday. The company says it is the first such test to be approved in the central African country, which remains the epicenter of the outbreak.
The new generation Lampox test was validated last September by the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. It combines the speed of an antigen test with the precision of a PCR test, explains the company based in Liège.
Contipharma welcomes this progress, because it contributes to the fight against monkeypox in Africa and the technology developed for this test can also be adaptable to other potential epidemics. “The ability to quickly detect the mpox virus not only helps stop its spread, but also makes vaccination campaigns much more effective,” adds CEO Bernard Delhez.
Mpox is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted between humans, causing fever, muscle pain and skin lesions. The resurgence of mpox on the African continent and the appearance of a new variant (clade 1b) pushed the WHO to trigger its highest level of global alert in mid-August.
Mpox is currently present in 16 African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 30,000 cases and nearly 1,000 deaths have been recorded since the start of the year, according to official figures.
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