The MBOTE Project
The MBOTE (Monkeypox Biology, Outcome, Transmission and Epidemiology) project is a multidisciplinary research collaboration between the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) and the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM Antwerp).
The MBOTE Consortium
The MBOTE consortium — 'mbote' meaning 'hello' in Lingala — was founded in 2020 in response to the increasing number of mpox cases in the DRC. The consortium's first project, MBOTE-Maniema, focused on an especially large mpox outbreak in the Tunda Health Zone, southern Maniema Province, which in 2021 saw over 500 cases in 6 months with a case fatality rate of 10%.
Led by INRB, and in collaboration with ITM and ALIMA, the consortium intensified surveillance efforts, provided medical support, and integrated humanitarian efforts with scientific research on the clinical presentation, risk factors, and transmission dynamics mpox in Maniema province.