In Africa's monkeypox outbreak, sickness and death go undetected

Marcel Osekasomba, 48, head nurse at the Yalolia health centre, and Theopiste Maloko, 42, a local health official, check the progress of Lisungi Lifafu, 12, who is suffering from monkeypox, while his father Litumbe Lifafu and mother, Lituka Yenga, watch, in Yalolia village, Yakusu, Tshopo, Democratic Republic of Congo, October 3, 2022. Without treatment Lisungi can only wait for the illness to run its course. Ahead of him lies a myriad of possible outcomes including recovery, blindness, or, as was the case with a family member in August, death. "These children have a disease that makes them suffer so much," said Lisungi's father Litumbe Lifafu. "We demand the government provides medicines for us poor farmers, and the vaccine to fight this disease." REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi

At a village clinic in central Congo, separated from the world by a tangle of waterways and forests, six-year-old Angelika Lifafu grips her dress and screams as nurses in protective suits pick at one of hundreds of boils that trouble her delicate skin.

Her uncle, 12-year-old Lisungi Lifafu, sits at the foot of her bed, facing away from the sunlight that pours through the doorway and pains his swollen, weeping eyes. When nurses approach, he raises his chin, but cannot look up.