Bujumbura, Aug 8 (IANS): Burundi has approved a six-month contingency plan for its response to an mpox outbreak, the health minister said.

"The contingency response plan against mpox is costly, that is, around 42 billion Burundi francs (about 15 million US dollars)," Lydwine Baradahana, minister of public health and fight against AIDS, told a workshop with international partners Tuesday evening.

"This document will allow us and international partners like the World Health Organization to mobilize necessary resources for the response to the disease" caused by the monkeypox virus, she said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Baradahana said Burundi has recorded 55 mpox cases, but "no deaths related to mpox have so far been reported."

The minister said that mpox cases have been reported in 23 of the country's 49 health districts, with the district of north Bujumbura being the most affected. She urged people to visit nearby health facilities when they encounter suspected symptoms of the viral disease, stressing that mpox is highly contagious.

Mpox treatment will be provided free of charge, the minister said.

"This national contingency response plan against mpox also provides the fight against the mpox viral disease in domestic animals, Baradahana said. "That's why we will get in touch with livestock ministry officials to cut the contamination chain both in animals and humans."

Burundi announced its first confirmed mpox cases on July 25.

Mpox symptoms include an unexplained acute rash and back pain, swollen lymph nodes, acute onset of fever, headache, muscle and body aches, and low energy.

On July 16, a child with symptoms similar to monkeypox died at a health facility in Mugamba, in Bururi Province in southwestern Burundi.

Neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported an "exponential increase" in the number of mpox cases. Cases have also been reported in other African countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.