2024-08-15 11:25:19
The viral disease Mpox broke out once before in 2022, but was brought under control. Now there is a new threat.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has activated its highest alert level due to a new variant of the Mpox virus in Africa. It has declared a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” (PHEIC).
She sees the risk that Mpox could spread internationally again after 2022 and become a health risk in several countries. The WHO followed the recommendation of independent Mpox experts who had met in the so-called emergency committee at the WHO’s invitation, as WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva. The emergency declaration has no concrete consequences. Rather, it is intended to alert authorities around the world so that they can prepare for possible outbreaks.
The WHO’s concern relates, among other things, to a new virus variant that was discovered in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the end of 2023. It is a subline of the Mpox clade I (Roman for one), called Ib. It could be more contagious than previous variants and cause more severe disease. Detailed studies on this are still pending. Mpox of clade I were also discovered for the first time in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi as well as Kenya in recent weeks.
The European Health Authority ECDC assessed the risk of the new variant spreading in Europe as “very low” at the end of July. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), there are currently no known cases of Clade I in Germany.
Mpox was formerly known as monkeypox because it was first discovered by chance in monkeys. The WHO decided on the new name because they do not name diseases after animals or countries in which they are discovered in order to avoid discrimination.
The virus is related to the classic smallpox virus (variola virus). It causes mainly a rash, but also fever and can be fatal, especially for children. The vaccine against the smallpox virus also protects against infection with the Mpox virus.
The African health authority CDC has already reported more than 14,000 suspected cases and more than 500 deaths from the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring countries this year. Only a small proportion of these have been confirmed in the laboratory. However, it has already declared an emergency for Africa. This will enable more resources to be mobilized to help countries contain the virus. The WHO receives fewer than 1,000 laboratory-confirmed cases from all over the world each month. It assumes that due to a lack of testing capacity, not all cases are discovered.
The WHO had already declared an emergency due to Mpox in July 2022. At that time, there were cases in more than 60 countries, including Germany. The infections were due to clade II, which causes less severe disease. The emergency was lifted in May 2023 because the outbreaks in most countries had been brought under control with vaccines. In Africa and other countries in the global south, however, there are problems with the supply of vaccines.