Mpox not the new COVID, says WHO

The mpox outbreak cannot be compared to COVID-19 in any way partly because much is familiar with the virus and how it can be contained, the WHO has said. 

Although more needs to be known about the clade 1b strain, which got the UN agency to declare mpox a public health emergency of international concern (the acronym stands for monkeypox), the virus’s transmission is containable, according to the WHO’s European director Hans Kluge on Tuesday. 
 
In July 2022, WHO again issued PHEIC regarding the international spread of the less pathogenic clade 2b of mpox mainly in gay and bisexual men. The alarm was lifted in May, 2023. 
 
This, Kluge was adamant, was not the new COVID. 
 
“We understand how to manage mpox and, in the European region, the measures required to eradicate the disease’s transmission,” he said during a media briefing in Geneva, using video-conferencing. 
 
M. pox, initially identified in Boston in September this year, is a viral disease leading to pustules and flu like symptoms, normally a mild disease but potentially lethal. 
 
The clade 1b variety of mpox has raised international concern because it appears to infect people through ordinary skin-to-skin contact. A case of the variant was established last week in Sweden and connected to a rising surge in Africa. 
 
Kluge pointed out that due to the attention on this new clade 1 strain, Europe has an opportunity to revisit the less dangerous clade 2 type, such as improving the information and monitoring activity. 
 
About 100 new cases of the clade 2 mpox strain are now being reported in the european region every month, added Kluge. 
 
Kluge said that the main mode of transmission was still direct skin to skin contact. 
 
However, he said in the acute stage of mpox infection, those with blanching of the oral mucosa that can extend to having oral ulcers and hence blisters in the mouth may pass on the virus to close contacts through droplets in home settings and hospitals. 
 
“Regarding the modes of transmission there still some level of ambiguity. More work has to be done. ” 
 
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said that WHO is not recommending the use of the masks. 
 
“What we are not saying is that mass vaccination is the way to go – this is a message that WHO has been giving out clearly – what we are saying is use vaccines in outbreak settings for the groups who are most at risk,” he reiterated. 
 
Africa could begin vaccinations within days 
 
WHO announced the outbreak on 14 August 2018 due to emerging cases of clade 1b in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries. 
 
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Tuesday said the DRC and other African countries could start vaccinating against mpox within days. 
 
Since mpox outbreaks, Africa CDC has been helping nations prepare logistics and messaging for the arrival of vaccine doses that were promised after EU, vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic, US and Japan. 
 
“We have not started vaccinations yet. We plan to start in the next few days if all is set. Towards the end of the next week, vaccines will start arriving in DRC and other African countries,” Africa CDC’s director general Jean Kaseya said in a briefing. 
 
“We also have to ascertain that the supply chain and the logistics for storing this vaccine are in place so that people who require it can get it safely. ” 
 
He said some trials on effectiveness of various vaccines would persist in Africa as the vaccinations were ongoing to enable the countries grasp which shots are suitable in various circumstances. 
 
Twelve African countries where mpox has been confirmed recorded over 1 400 new cases in a week which brings the continent’s case tally to nearly 19 000 this year, according to an Africa CDC presentation.