Health
What you need to know about variants, vaccines and where outbreaks are happening
Topline
Officials in the Philippines said on Monday they have detected a new case of MPox in the country and are investigating whether the variant is the same due to a growing outbreak in central Africa, days after Sweden reported the world’s first case outside Africa. The Health Organization is sounding the alarm because of the growing outbreaks.
The WHO has declared the mpox outbreak in Africa a global public health emergency.
Key facts
The Philippines reported its first case of MPOX this year in a 33-year-old man with no history of travel outside the country, the Department of Health said said It added on Monday that testing was underway to determine whether the virus is the same form as the clade I variant causing a growing outbreak in Africa.
Pakistan confirmed at least one case of MPOX in a patient who returned last Friday from an unspecified Gulf country – reports mention both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – although it is not yet clear which variant is responsible for the infection .
Pakistani health officials, who said they have been unable to locate the man since he returned to his home, also retracted a statement earlier in the day saying three MPox patients had been found in the country upon arrival from the UAE this week.
Sweden on Thursday became the first country outside Africa to report an MPOX infection caused by the clade I variant, although officials said the person had become infected while staying in the region and stressed that the risk to the general population of the virus “is very large”. low.”
At least 12 countries in Africa have reported mpox outbreaks to date, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said when the state of emergency was declared on Tuesday, included four – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda – that have not previously reported mpox.
The vast majority of cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the variant’s historic frontier for more than a decade, and at least a dozen nearby countries. to landincluding those mentioned above, have confirmed cases or are considered at high risk due to sharing a border with the DRC: Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Cameroon, Gabon, Angola, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
Crucial quote
“We encourage all countries to improve surveillance, share data and work to better understand transmission; share resources such as vaccines; and apply lessons learned from previous public health emergencies of international concern to tackling the current outbreak,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. said on Friday.
How many cases have been reported?
African officials have confirmed 2,863 MPOX cases and 517 deaths in 2024 so far. according to to Africa CDC, most in the DRC. Only a fraction of suspected infections are genetically tested to confirm mpox and determine the responsible variant. Officials said the number of suspected cases has already surpassed 17,000, by a wide margin. exceed last year there were a total of about 15,600 cases and 537 deaths. These figures are “just the tip of the iceberg,” experts say, due to difficulties in tracking and testing cases.
What is Mpox?
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. The virus belongs to a large family of viruses known to cause disease in humans and other animals, including smallpox, variola, cowpox, Alaska pox, and vaccinia, an attenuated form of which is used in mpox and smallpox vaccines. Mpox infections are usually mild, but infections can and do kill. Data shows that the clade I variant has a mortality rate of as high as 10%. Young children, pregnant people, and people with compromised immune systems are at greatest risk for poor outcomes. Symptoms of infection include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and characteristic pus-filled rash. The virus spreads mainly through close contact with infected people, animals or contaminated materials such as towels.
Are there Mpox vaccines?
Yes. The preferred choice among health officials is Bavarian Nordic’s two-dose vaccine. The vaccine, sold as Jynneos, Imvamune and Imvanex, has a more favorable risk profile compared to available alternatives and has been approved for use against MPox by major health agencies around the world, including the Food and Drug Administration. The company says it can deliver 10 million shots to fight the outbreak by the end of 2025, and 2 million by the end of the year. There are abundant supplies of Emergent BioSolutions’ smallpox vaccine ACAM2000 in national stockpiles around the world. The shot, saved for national security in case the now-eradicated smallpox somehow reemerges or is weaponized, is generally not preferred for widespread use due to the higher risk of potentially serious side effects, but could be used to protect against mpox if necessary. KM Biology secured approval for its smallpox and MPox vaccine, LC16, in home country Japan during the 2022 outbreak. But the company has not yet sought widespread approval for the shot around the world and it is not commercially available. There are reportedly significant stocks in Japan’s national stockpile, should Tokyo release them. Another smallpox vaccine that could target MPox has also been approved in Russia. The shot, that the WHO say is the “first fourth-generation smallpox/orthopoxvirus vaccine,” however, is not widely available, and given the agency that developed it, it is unknown whether Moscow would share supplies internationally. The shot was developed and registered by the Russian Vector Institute, the historic home of the Soviet Union’s biological weapons program and host to one of two authorized smallpox repositories worldwide (the other being the CDC).
Who should be vaccinated against Mpox?
Most countries consider the risk of an MPox outbreak to be very low and have not approved large-scale vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mpox vaccination in the US for the high-risk groups identified in the last global outbreak in 2022, and although the number of cases has fallen, the virus variant is still circulating. This includes gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men or transgender, non-binary or gender diverse people, especially those who have multiple sex partners, have sex in commercial sex venues such as clubs or saunas and have been newly diagnosed with a sexual assault. transmitted infection such as chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis in the past six months. People with an occupational risk of exposure, such as laboratory or health care workers, are also recommended to get the shot, as well as people who have had sex with or been exposed to someone diagnosed with MPox. The agency recommends two doses of Jynneos, given four weeks apart.
What happened to the other Mpox variant?
The clade II variant that caused the 2022 mpox outbreak is still circulating. Cases have declined in Western countries due to widespread vaccination efforts, but cases are still emerging and officials are closely monitoring the virus’s movements. The variant is also still responsible for outbreaks in Africa, mainly West Africa, where the disease has traditionally circulated. In reporting on the clade I outbreak, the WHO noted a “distinct” mpox outbreak in Ivory Coast, linked to clade II.
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