2024-08-16 21:25:52
Por Camille BAS-WOHLERT con Marthe BOSUANDOLE en Kinshasa
The UN health agency warned Thursday of the imminent possibility of outbreaks of mpox in Europe, after Sweden reported a case of a dangerous variant of the virus so far only diagnosed in Africa.
“It is likely that additional imported cases of clade 1 will be reported in the European region in the coming days and weeks,” the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a statement, referring to the new variant of mpox, also known as “monkeypox.”
Clade 1 is a new strain of the virus, more dangerous and contagious than those identified so far.
The WHO on Wednesday declared MPOX a public health emergency of international concern, its highest alert level, due to a resurgence of cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries.
At least 548 people have died since the beginning of the year in the central African country of about 100 million people, Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said.
Since January 2022, 38,465 cases of the disease have been recorded in 16 African countries.
In the same period, 1,456 people died, according to data published last week by the African Union’s health agency, Africa CDC.
In 2024, there has been a 160% increase in the number of cases compared to the previous year, the same source indicated.
– “Very low” risk –
The case announced by Sweden’s Public Health Agency was the first outside that continent.
“The affected person became infected during a stay in a region of Africa where there is a large epidemic of mpox clade 1 subtype,” explained Olivia Wigzell, acting director of the organization, in a press conference.
The agency added, however, that “the fact that a patient with MPOX receives treatment in the country does not imply risks for the rest of the population.”
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers this risk to be very low, he added.
In a message to AFP, the health agency specified that this is the mpox 1b variant, which has been experiencing an upsurge in the DRC since September 2023.
The 26 provinces of the country of 2.3 million square kilometres have been affected, the DRC health minister said, adding that there were 15,664 potential cases since the beginning of the year.
The WHO has called for not stigmatising “travellers, countries or regions”.
“Only by working together, sharing data and adopting the necessary public health measures can we control the spread of this virus,” he added.
Mpox was first detected in humans in 1970 in present-day DRC (formerly Zaire).
It is a viral disease that is transmitted from animals to humans, as well as through close physical contact with a person infected by the virus.
It causes fever, muscle aches and skin lesions.
– A more dangerous virus –
The U.S. Department of Health announced Wednesday that it will “donate 50,000 doses of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved JYNNEOS vaccine to the DRC.”
“Vaccination will be a critical element of the response to this outbreak,” he said in a statement.
Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic said it is ready to produce up to 10 million doses of its mpox vaccine by 2025.
The WHO declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern a day after the African Union’s health watchdog declared its own emergency over the outbreak.
The UN health agency had already taken a similar decision in July 2022, when there was a global outbreak of monkeypox caused by a strain known as clade IIb.
The emergency was lifted in May 2023. That outbreak caused 140 deaths and nearly 90,000 cases were reported.
The current epidemic has specific characteristics. It is a more contagious and dangerous virus, caused by clade 1 and an even more dangerous variant, clade 1b. Its mortality rate is estimated at 3.6%.
Clade 1b produces skin rashes all over the body, while previous strains were characterized by rashes and lesions located on the mouth, face, or genitals.
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© Agence France-Presse
