WHO tries to reassure in the face of the MPOX outbreak in Africa and a single case in Europe

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday issued a message of reassurance in the face of a new outbreak of mpox (previously known as monkeypox) in Africa and a single case detected in Europe, in an attempt to contain alarmist information and rumours surrounding the disease and its mode of transmission.

“MPOX is not COVID (…) Based on what we know, MPOX is transmitted mainly through skin-to-skin contact with MPOX lesions, including during sexual intercourse,” said WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge.

It is known how to control the disease

Along the same lines, he recalled that we know how to control this infectious disease and what are “the steps that must be taken in Europe to eliminate transmission completely.”

At the same press conference, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic stressed that the use of masks is not recommended as contact is skin-to-skin.

Clade 1b variant spreads faster

The state of health alert declared by the WHO a few days ago is related to the rapid expansion and high mortality of a new variant (called clade 1b) in Africa and a first case in Sweden, of a traveler who had been in an area of ​​Africa where the virus is circulating intensely.

This variant is different from the so-called clade 2, which caused a violent outbreak in Africa in 2022 and hundreds of cases in Europe, North America and countries in other regions.

The head of the WHO’s European office recalled that two years ago, European governments were asked to maintain efforts to completely eliminate mpox from Europe, but this failed because “there was a lack of commitment and resources.”

The consequence is that around 100 cases of mpox clade 2 are diagnosed every month in Europe, with a total of 27,000 cases diagnosed since 2022 on this continent.

Medical staff treat a child suffering from mpox at the Munigi Health Centre in Munigi, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Clade 1b is more easily transmitted between people

What is worrying about the current outbreak is that clade 1b is observed to be more easily transmitted between people and tends to cause more severe symptoms.

In response to reports of the alleged transmission of this clade of mpox through the air, the health official explained that “it is possible that someone, in the acute phase of the infection and especially if they have blisters in their mouth, can transmit the virus to close contacts through droplets (that they exhale), at home or in hospitals.”

The WHO has noted that there is significant evidence that transmission can also occur through bedsheets and utensils in hospitals.

Kluge admitted that the mode of transmission of clade 1b is still not entirely clear and that further investigation is required.

Africa’s public health agency tackles mpox outbreak in DRC

Patients infected with mpox await treatment outside the Munigi Health Centre in Munigi, Democratic Republic of Congo

Meanwhile, the director general of Africa’s public health agency, Jean Kaseya, met in Kinshasa with the Congolese Minister of Health, Roger Kamba, to discuss the outbreak of mpox originating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the African Union (AU) agency reported.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is “actively coordinating the mpox virus response in the DRC with several partners,” the agency said on its X social media profile.

During the meeting between the delegations and other partners not specified by the CDC in Africa, the “action plan” for managing the spread of the disease in the Central African country was discussed.

So far this year, the DRC has recorded 16,700 cases and 570 deaths from MPOX, which mainly affects young people, according to the latest figures provided by the Congolese Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare.

Kamba announced at a press conference on Monday that the DRC expects to receive more than three million vaccine doses from Japan, Belgium and the United States.

Nearly 19,000 cases of mpox and 540 deaths reported in twelve African countries in 2024

Since the Africa CDC declared the outbreak a public health emergency of continental concern on Tuesday, the agency has observed 1,405 additional cases and no new deaths from mpox in AU member states.

Apart from the DRC, the other affected countries are, in order of incidence, Burundi (with 572 cases and no deaths), the Central African Republic (263 cases, 0 deaths), the Republic of the Congo or Congo-Brazzaville (169, 1), Nigeria (39, 0), Cameroon (35, 2), South Africa (24, 3), Liberia (5, 0), Rwanda (4, 0), Uganda (2, 0), Ivory Coast (2, 0) and Kenya (1, 0).

Geneva / EFE