Placide Mbala‐Kingebeni

Phylogenetic analysis of initial Ebola virus genomes from the 16th Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, September 2025 Open

Adrienne Amuri-Aziza, Gradi Luakanda, Jean-Claude Makangara-Cigolo, Eddy Kinganda-Lusamaki, Christian Ngandu , et al. · 2025

On 4 September 2025, the Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare officially declared the 16th Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). As of 13 October 2025, the outbreak is ongoing in…

Serologic evidence of crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever virus exposure among livestock and farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Open

Megan Halbrook, Boniface Lombe Pongombo, Sydney Merritt, Emmanuel Hasivirwe Vakaniaki, Daddy Kanonge Lubunda , et al. · 2025

Background Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a potential high-threat zoonotic disease caused by the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV). Transmission of CCHFV occurs primarily through bites of infected Hyalomma ticks or d…

Evidence of latency reshapes our understanding of Ebola virus reservoir dynamics Open

John T. McCrone, Guy Baele, Ifeanyi F. Omah, Eddy Kinganda-Lusamaki, Joe Brew , et al. · 2025

Ebola virus (EBOV) has caused severe outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever in Central and West Africa since the first observed zoonotic epidemic in the late 1970s. While recent outbreaks have revealed much about the epidemiological dynamics that…

Determinants of long-term SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in asymptomatic-to- moderate COVID-19 patients in sub-Saharan Africa Open

Víctor López de Rioja, Odin Goovaerts, Marta Vidal, John Amuasi, Anthony Afum-Adjei Awuah , et al. · 2025

Background Immune responses after SARS-CoV-2 infection remain poorly characterized in African populations, despite widespread viral transmission and proportionally lower COVID-19 severity and mortality than in other regions. We aimed to de…

Clade Ib Mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): Clinical and Virological Report of the First Case in Kinshasa, the Capital City Open

Franck Kasongo-Mulenda, Sylvie Lundi-Kizela, Sabrina Kalonji-Tshilomba, Deluxe Nsambayi-Lukusa, Mohesa Iteke , et al. · 2025

The ongoing mpox clade Ib outbreak was first detected in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and was associated with sexual transmission. It emerged in Kamituga, a mining city and spread rapidly in surrounding health zones and r…

Field Evaluation of Mobile Molecular Differential Tests in DRC and Nigeria Open

Martin Faye, Sheila Makiala‐Mandanda, Moussa Moïse Diagne, Oumar Faye, Susanne Boehlken-Fascher , et al. · 2025

Background Accurate and timely differential diagnoses are a challenge for health care, particularly in infrastructure-poor settings. Methods To investigate fevers of unknown origin in Africa, a mobile suitcase laboratory was deployed to DR…

High genetic diversity of mpox virus (MPXV) in three different rodent species in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Open

Meris Matondo, Pascal Baelo, Audrey Lacroix, Grace Odia Kadima, Simon-Pierre Ndimbo Kumugo , et al. · 2025

Altough zoonotic spillover events continue to drive human mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the wildlife reservoir of mpox virus (MPXV) remains unkown. To address this gap, we screened samples from 2,701 wild ma…

Serologic Evidence of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Exposure among Livestock and Farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Open

Megan Halbrook, Boniface Pongombo Lombe, Sydney Merritt, Emmanuel Hasivirwe Vakaniaki, Daddy Kanonge , et al. · 2025

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a potential high-threat zoonotic disease caused by the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV). Transmission of CCHFV occurs primarily through bites of infected Hyalomma ticks or via direct c…

Human outbreak detection and best practice MPXV analysis and interpretation with squirrel Open

Áine O’Toole, Eddy Kinganda-Lusamaki, Rachel Colquhoun, Connor Chato, Emily Scher , et al. · 2025

High numbers of reported mpox cases and recent identification of multiple sustained human outbreaks of MPXV have highlighted the need for robust, best-practice genomic surveillance tools. In light of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many labs acro…

A peer-educator driven approach for sampling populations at increased mpox risk in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Implications for surveillance and response Open

Sydney Merritt, Megan Halbrook, Yvon Anta, Patrick Mukadi, Emmanuel Hasivirwe Vakaniaki , et al. · 2025

The epidemiological risk factors associated with mpox acquisition and severity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are changing. We assessed perceived mpox risk, and behavioral, clinical and sexual histories among key populations…

De l’émergence du mpox en République démocratique du Congo aux urgences sanitaires globales Open

Eddy Kinganda-Lusamaki, Ahidjo Ayouba, Placide Mbala‐Kingebeni, Steve Ahuka‐Mundeke, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum , et al. · 2025

Longtemps négligé, le virus mpox a provoqué deux déclarations d’urgence de santé publique par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé en seulement deux ans. La détection rapide et la caractérisation des souches virales impliquées sont cruciale…

Long-term Sequelae in Ebola Virus Disease Survivors Receiving Anti-Ebola Virus Therapies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Prospective Cohort Study Open

Angèle Dilu-Keti, Tamara Tovar-Sanchez, Benjamin Cuer, Antoine Nkuba-Ndaye, Daniel Mukadi‐Bamuleka , et al. · 2025

Background The 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo marked the first major cohort of Ebola survivors treated with advanced therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies (REGN-EB3, ansuvimab, ZMapp) and remdesivi…

Emergence of Clade Ib Monkeypox Virus—Current State of Evidence Open

Panayampalli S. Satheshkumar, Crystal M. Gigante, Placide Mbala‐Kingebeni, Yoshinori Nakazawa, Mark S. Anderson , et al. · 2025

Mpox was first identified against the backdrop of the smallpox eradication campaign. Monkeypox virus (MPXV), the causative agent of mpox, has been maintained in animal reservoirs in the forested regions of West and Central Africa as 2 dist…

Long-term antibody responses to the Ebola virus and the vaccine vector after rVSV-ZEBOV vaccination in DRC Open

Christian M Kahusu, Laurène Peckeu, Odin Goovaerts, Élysée Matungulu, Leo Heyndrickx , et al. · 2025

Zaïre ebolavirus (EBOV) remains a serious threat with a high case fatality rate in humans, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). To cope with previous epidemics, the single-dose and prophylactic rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine was wid…

Increased testing is needed for Mpox in DR Congo to urgently curb disease spread Open

Prince Imani‐Musimwa, Placide Mbala‐Kingebeni, Stéphane Hans-Bateyi-Mustafa, Alfred Ombeni-Musimwa, Mija Ververs · 2025

Mpox lesion counting with semantic and instance segmentation methods Open

Bohan Jiang, Andrew McNeil, Yihao Liu, David W. House, Placide Mbala‐Kingebeni , et al. · 2025

Instance segmentation methods and UNet-based semantic segmentation methods performed equally well in lesion counting. Furthermore, the ensemble of the trained models showed no performance increase over the best-performing model UNet, likel…

Three Cases of Vertical Transmission of Clade Ib Mpox Virus Open

Emmanuel Hasivirwe Vakaniaki, Nono-Raymond Kuispond Swar, Yuichiro Hirata, Eugene Bangwen, Isabel Brosius , et al. · 2025

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics among probable and confirmed patients with mpox in Sierra Leone reported from January to May 2025 Open

Jia Bainga Kangbai, Emmanuel Saidu, Ibrahim K Foday, Emmanuel S. Kamanda, Michaella Jaba , et al. · 2025

We analyzed available mpox cases reports in Sierra Leone from January to June 2025 following a historic increase in mpox cases across multiple urban and rural regions in the country. Here, we assessed demographic and clinical data from 187…

Epidemiological characteristics of mpox virus Clade Ib in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: the impact of transmission mode Open

Cécile Kremer, Sabin S. Nundu, Emmanuel Hasivirwe Vakaniaki, Isabel Brosius, Guy Mukari , et al. · 2025

Monkeypox virus (MPXV) Clade Ib, a new MPXV subclade associated with sustained human-to-human transmission, emerged in eastern DRC in late 2023. Early spread mainly occurred among the adult population, primarily through sexual contact. We …

Clade Ia Monkeypox Virus Linked to Sexual Transmission, Democratic Republic of the Congo, August 2024 Open

Jean-Claude Makangara-Cigolo, Kelly-Michel Kenye, Lygie Lunyanga, Daan Jansen, Eddy Kinganda-Lusamaki , et al. · 2025

Several concurrent mpox outbreaks are ongoing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We report a case of severe clade Ia mpox in an adult woman with indeterminate HIV status who died 16 days after symptom onset. She self-identified as a …

Assessing mpox knowledge and sexual behaviours within high-risk populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Open

Candice Lemaille, Megan Halbrook, Sydney Merritt, Yvon Anta, Lygie Lunyanga , et al. · 2025

Background Historically, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has faced the greatest public health burden from mpox, including more than 70,000 probable cases from 01 January 2024 to 02 February 2025. However, there has been a relati…

Tecovirimat for Clade I MPXV Infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo Open

Rosine Ali, Jules Alonga, Jean-Luc Biampata, Michael Kombozi Basika, Irina Maljkovic Berry , et al. · 2025

Tecovirimat did not reduce the number of days to lesion resolution in patients with mpox caused by clade I MPXV. No safety concerns were identified. (Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and others; PALM007 C…

Establishment of a regional Mpox surveillance network in Central Africa: shared experiences in an endemic region Open

Emmanuel Hasivirwe Vakaniaki, Sydney Merritt, Sylvie Linsuke, Emile Malembi, Francisca Muyembe , et al. · 2025

Maternal and fetal survival following Ebola, HIV and Malaria co-infection in the first trimester of gestation in resource-limited setting in Democratic Republic of Congo Open

Prince Imani‐Musimwa, Emilie Grant, Daniel Mukadi‐Bamuleka, Zacharie Tsongo‐Kibendelwa, Rigo Fraterne‐Muhayangabo , et al. · 2025

In case of Ebola, HIV and malaria co-infection, maternal and fetal survival remains possible even in the context of resources limited-setting. This case raises questions about the effects of the interactions of these co-infections and/or t…

Author Correction: Mpox in Central Africa: complex epidemiology requires a constellation approach Open

Megan Halbrook, Jean-Claude Makangara-Cigolo, Sydney Merritt, Nicole A. Hoff, Laurens Liesenborghs , et al. · 2025

Hematologic Disorders in Ebola-Infected Patients During the Tenth Outbreak in Butembo, Democratic Republic of Congo: Hemogram Analysis of Ebola Virus Disease Patients During the Outbreak in Butembo 2019–2020 Open

Fiston Isekusu, François Edidi-Atani, Laurens Liesenborghs, Aldo Mavinga, Olivier Tshiani , et al. · 2025

Background: Hematologic disorders occur frequently in patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) and are characterized by one or several abnormalities in blood cells, including hemostasis, which is poorly documented. This study described the …

Dengue Transmission Dynamics and Spread in Angola: A Phylogenetic and Cross-Sectional Seroprevalence Study Open

Jocelyne Neto de Vasconcelos, Charles A. Whittaker, Lewis Buss, Carina Clemente, Lı́bia Zé-Zé , et al. · 2025

Neonatal Survival Following Spontaneous Maternal Recovery From Ebola Virus Disease in a Resource‐Limited Setting in Western Democratic Republic of the Congo Open

Prince Imani‐Musimwa, Emilie Grant, Daniel Mukadi‐Bamuleka, Rigo Fraterne‐Muhayangabo, Richard Kitenge-Omasumbu , et al. · 2025

Background: Pregnancy induces physiological decline in maternal immunity. Ebola virus disease (EVD) in pregnancy is associated with obstetrical complications, and vaccination in early pregnancy is recommended, but may not be without risk. …

Mpox in Central Africa: complex epidemiology requires a constellation approach Open

Megan Halbrook, Jean-Claude Makangara-Cigolo, Sydney Merritt, Nicole A. Hoff, Laurens Liesenborghs , et al. · 2024

Currently Central Africa is experiencing multiple large concurrent mpox outbreaks spreading across several nations and at-risk populations via multiple transmission modes. This current surge of cases, framed in the context of the 2022 glob…

PrimalScheme: open-source community resources for low-cost viral genome sequencing Open

Chris Kent, Andrew D. Smith, John R. Tyson, Dariusz Stepniak, Eddy Kinganda-Lusamaki , et al. · 2024

Viral genome sequencing using the ARTIC protocol has been a vital tool for understanding the spread of epidemics including Ebola, Zika, COVID-19 and Mpox and has seen widespread adoption due to its low cost and high sensitivity. Here, we d…

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