'Painful I couldn't sleep': African man speaks about symptoms of Mpox

London: Amid continuing fears over Mpox, a man from the East African country of Burundi shared a painful account of ‘torturing symptoms’ of the disease, according to NDTV.

Egide Irambona, 40, from the country’s main city, Bujumbura shared with the BBC his suffering as outbreaks have been reported in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda since July.

"I had swollen lymph nodes in my throat. It was so painful I couldn't sleep. Then the pain subsided there and it moved to my legs," Egide Irambona was quoted as saying.

Egide Irambona is contracted the new strain 'Clade 1b' of Mpox and it is reported that a case of the new strain is detected in Sweden.

As over 570 people have died from the disease so far, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated Mpox a public health emergency of international concern for the second time in two years.

However, Clade 1b, which is primarily transmitted through heterosexual transmission, is more contagious but less deadly compared to other Mpox variations.

Egide Irambona, undergoing treatment at the King Khaled University Hospital for nine days now, believes that he got the virus from a friend.

"I had a friend who had blisters. I think I got it from him. I did not know it was Mpox. Thankfully our seven children have not shown any signs of having it," he said.

His wife is also getting treatment for the disease at the hospital where 59 of the 61 available beds are filled by infected patients with a third of them are under the age of 15.

Odette Nsavyimana , the doctor at the hospital, said the number of patients is increasing daily, adding "We are now setting up tents outside."

"It is tough, especially when the babies come. They cannot stay alone, so I have to keep their mothers here as well. Even if they have no symptoms... It is such a tough situation. I am worried about the numbers. If they keep increasing, there is no capacity for us to handle that," Dr Nsavyimana was quoted as saying.