CDC issues health alert to U.S. doctors over subtype of monkeypox spreading in Congo that kills one in ten and is more infectious --Alert warned clinicians to test patients traveling from the Congo for the virus | 7 Dec 2023 | Doctors in the US are being told to look out for a more deadly type of monkeypox -- amid the worst outbreak ever in the Congo. An alert issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned clinicians to test patients for the virus if they had recently returned from the area and are showing signs of infection. Americans traveling to the area were also advised Wednesday to look out for rashes and take "enhanced precautions" such as avoiding close contact with sick people. The Democratic Republic of Congo is currently in the grips of a major monkeypox, or mpox, outbreak -- which is suspected to have sickened nearly 13,000 and caused a suspected 581 deaths. It is being triggered by a more deadly strain of mpox called Clade I, which causes more severe infections and is fatal in one in ten cases. Last year's outbreak was caused by the more mild Clade II mpox, which is rarely fatal. [From 2018, the Johns Hopkins website: "The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted the Clade X pandemic tabletop exercise on May 15, 2018, in Washington, DC. The purpose of the exercise was to illustrate high-level strategic decisions and policies that the United States and the world will need to pursue in order to prevent a pandemic or diminish its consequences should prevention fail. About Clade X - Clade X was a day-long pandemic tabletop exercise that simulated a series of National Security Council–convened meetings of 10 US government leaders, played by individuals prominent in the fields of national security or epidemic response. No. The purpose was to get the pandemic party started in time for the next "election," which will also be rigged --LRP.]