On Friday, European health experts sent out a warning signal for an increase in incidences of a lethal version of mpox, responsible for numerous deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Following the detection of the first instances of this formidable strain outside Africa, in Sweden and Pakistan, China has declared its intention to conduct health screenings on incoming travellers. This highly contagious disease, which jumps from animals to humans and can spread from person to person through close contact, manifests through fever, muscle pain, and large, boil-like eruptions on the skin.
On a critical note, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified the rapid dissemination of the Clade 1b strain as a global health crisis of the utmost seriousness – the most severe warning it can issue. On Friday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), located in Stockholm, labelled Europe’s general population’s risk as “low” but stressed the importance of nations being alert for the virus.
The ECDC emphasized the importance of “ensuring effective surveillance, laboratory testing, epidemiological investigation and contact tracing capacities” to spot cases in Europe. Pamela Rendi-Wagner, the ECDC director, highlighted the necessity for Europe to brace for additional cases due to its close ties with Africa.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the virus has claimed 548 lives this year alone, as disclosed by Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba. Meanwhile, Nigeria has seen 39 cases of mpox, with no fatalities, as reported by Jide Idris of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Outbreaks have also been reported in previously unaffected countries such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sweden’s Public Health Agency announced the detection of a Clade 1b case, marking the first such infection beyond the borders of Africa. “The patient was infected during a visit to the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox Clade 1,” stated epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen. Likewise, without specifying the strain, Pakistan’s health ministry revealed a case of a patient with travel history from a Gulf country.
China, in response, has rolled out a plan to start screening for mpox among travellers and goods entering the nation over the next six months, focusing on those coming from or in contact with pox-infected areas or showing symptoms, according to China’s customs administration.
Amidst these developments, the United States has pledged 50,000 mpox vaccine doses to the DRC, with the US Department of Health emphasizing vaccination as “a critical element of the response to this outbreak.”
Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic has also declared its readiness to supply up to 10 million mpox vaccine doses by 2025. The WHO’s European office underscored the global interconnectivity reflected in the case from Sweden but warned against the ineffectiveness and counterproductiveness of travel bans and border closures.
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