Congo, led the World Health Organization to declare it a global health emergency on Wednesday. br br It said the new variant could spread beyond the five African countries where it had already been detected — a timely warning that came a day before Sweden reported its first case of the new strain.br br In the vast central African nation of Congo, which has had more than 96 of the world's roughly 17,000 recorded cases of mpox this year — and some 500 deaths from the disease — many of the most vulnerable seem unaware of its existence or the threat that it poses.