EThis variant has already caused at least 548 deaths since the beginning of the year in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the worst-hit country, and the WHO considers it “likely that other imported cases will be recorded in the European region in the coming days and weeks”, the European section of the organization said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the organization activated its highest international alert level in response to the resurgence of cases of Mpox – formerly known as monkeypox – on the African continent.
A total of 38,465 cases of the disease have been recorded in 16 African countries since January 2022, with 1,456 deaths, including a 160% increase in the number of cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data published last week by the African Union’s health agency, Africa CDC.
On Thursday, the Swedish Public Health Agency announced that a person living in the Stockholm region had been diagnosed as carrying the most contagious and dangerous subtype of the Mpox virus, a first outside Africa.
“The affected person was infected during a stay in a region of Africa where there is a large epidemic of Mpox subtype clade 1,” explained Olivia Wigzell, acting head of the Swedish agency, during a press conference.
In a press release, the Swedish agency said that the fact that “one person is being treated for smallpox in the country does not imply any risk for the rest of the population”, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) considers that this risk is currently very low.
The agency told AFP in a message that the case in Sweden was the Mpox variant of the clade 1b subtype, which has been re-emerging in the DRC since September 2023, and where all provinces are now affected by the epidemic.
For the WHO, “it is imperative” not to stigmatize travelers or countries/regions: “Only by working together, sharing data and taking the necessary public health measures can we control the spread of this virus”, considering it crucial to avoid travel restrictions and border closures.
According to a statement issued by the US Department of Health on Wednesday, “vaccination will be an essential part of the response to this epidemic,” and to support this effort, “the United States is donating 50,000 doses of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved Jynneos vaccine to the DRC.”
Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, whose shares surged on Thursday, said it was ready to produce up to 10 million vaccine doses by 2025.
The current epidemic, which originated in the DRC, has specific characteristics, starting with a more contagious and dangerous virus. It is caused by clade 1 and an even more dangerous variant, clade 1b, with an estimated mortality rate of 3.6%.
Clade 1b causes more visible, full-body rashes, whereas earlier strains were characterized by localized rashes and lesions in the mouth, face, or genitals.
This is the second time in two years that the infectious disease has been considered a potential threat to international health, an alert that was initially raised in May last year after its spread was contained and the situation was considered under control.
The new variant can be easily transmitted through close contact between two individuals, including sexual contact, and is considered more dangerous than the 2022 variant.
In 2022, a global epidemic spread to a hundred countries where the disease was not endemic, mainly affecting homosexual and bisexual men. The epidemic caused around 140 deaths, out of an estimated total of 90,000 cases.
Before that, the disease was mostly detected in occasional outbreaks in central and west Africa when people came into contact with infected wild animals.
Western countries have contained the outbreak and spread of the virus with the help of vaccines and treatment that Africa has virtually no access to.
Read Also: Mpox. Epidemic has killed 548 people in the DR Congo since the beginning of the year
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2615982/oms-alerta-para-o-risco-de-novos-casos-de-mpox-importados-para-europa
