One of the crew showed 'cyst-like skin lesions predominantly on the chest and face'.
Mpox Update
The Liberian-flagged cargo ship is anchored in the Parana River after the suspected case (Picture: Reuters)
A ship on the Parana River in Argentina has been quarantined amid a suspected case of mpox. It was reported that one of the crew of Indian nationality showed ‘cyst-like skin lesions predominantly on the chest and face’ and the person has been isolated away from other crew members. The news comes as health authorities across the globe are on high alert over the spread of the clade 1 variant of mpox. The variant is still of concern because it spreads faster and has a higher mortality rate in comparison to the milder version of the clade 2 outbreak that was recorded in Europe, Australia, the US and many other countries in 2022. This second, more deadly strain is now endemic in central Africa and is behind the recently discovered variant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mpox has spread to Sweden while cases have also been reported in Pakistan and the Philippines.
Recent Updates
11h ago
Ship in Argentina’s Parana river is quarantined on suspected mpox case
22h ago
Mpox map shows countries affected by new variant
2d ago
Expert weighs in on likelihood of mpox lockdown in the UK
2d ago
Government ministers meet to discuss UK plan for potential mpox outbreak
August 20, 2024
10:55 pm
One dead after catching mpox in Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast health authorities on Tuesday reported 28 cases of mpox, with one person dying from the virus that has killed hundreds in Democratic Republic of Congo. The total has risen from six declared cases on August 1. The National Public Hygiene Institute (INHP) recorded ’28 confirmed cases including one death’ across the country as of Tuesday, said an INHP doctor Daouda Coulibaly. The fatal case and some others were recorded in the country’s economic capital Abidjan, the INHP said. Coulibaly said tests were being carried out to identify the strain of the latest mpox cases.
10:54 pm
Ship in Argentina’s Parana river is quarantined on suspected mpox case
A ship on Argentina’s Parana River near the grains hub of Rosario has been quarantined due to a suspected case of mpox, local media reported on Tuesday. The ship is flying a Liberian flag, outlet Infobae reported, citing sources from Argentina’s naval league. According to the outlet, the ship’s captain reported that a person on board with ‘symptoms compatible with the virus’ required medical assistance. Test results are pending, Infobae reported. So far in Argentina, the nation’s health authority has confirmed eight cases of mpox.
7:46 pm
France to donate 100,000 mpox vaccines
France will donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses to countries suffering from the emergency, as it readies vaccination centres at home, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Tuesday. Attal said France would donate the vaccines through the European Union. The World Health Organisation has declared the surge of mpox cases in Africa to be an international health emergency and the United States has said it will donate 50,000 mpox vaccine doses to Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN health agency has called for a major increase in vaccine production and said that a vaccination campaign must be a key priority for affected countries. Last week, the health agency of the African Union said some 200,000 vaccines would be deployed across Africa, thanks to agreements with the EU and Danish drug company Bavarian Nordic, whose vaccine was approved in 2019. Some 232 vaccination sites are in place in case of an eventual outbreak in France, Attal posted on the X social media platform. ‘We aim to be ready to face all scenarios and all risks,’ he said. No mpox cases have yet been reported in France.
3:40 pm
Is mpox an STD?
The virus can be spread through skin-to-skin contact during sex (Picture: AFP via Getty Images). While mpox can be spread through close contact, which includes skin-to-skin contact during sex, kissing and oral sex, research into whether monkeypox is an STD is still mixed. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that monkeypox diagnosis, treatment, and vaccination be incorporated into existing sexual health services. A study published in the National Library of Medicine found that the virus should be regarded as an STD in countries where it is not endemic because most transmissions reported occurred in sexual settings. But other research published in the Oxford Academic found while sexual contact is a primary means of spread, the classification of mpox as an STD is inaccurate because it ignores the historical impact of the disease in central and west Africa. This study suggests research should focus on destigmatising the virus and helping communities to protect themselves against it with additional resources.
2:09 pm
Swiss pharmaceutical company working to enhance lab testing capacity for mpox worldwide
A Swiss pharmaceutical company called Roche is working to enhance laboratory testing capacity for mpox worldwide. The company confirmed it is working with governments, healthcare providers and organisations to combat the outbreak, as well as providing training for labs across the African continent. The news comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed last week that mpox is now a global health emergency.
12:07 pm
Mpox map shows countries affected by new variant
This map shows the confirmed cases of the clade 1 variant of mpox and countries where risk of exposure has been recorded (Picture: Metro.co.uk). The above map shows countries across the world where the new clade 1 variant of mpox has been detected. Confirmed cases where the clade 1 variant has been recorded include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Uganda, Kenya and Sweden. Countries where risk of exposure has been reported include South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola.
11:12 am
No cause for concern over mpox – health chiefs in Jersey say
Health chiefs on the island of Jersey have said there is ‘no significant cause for concern’ over the spread of mpox. The news comes after Sweden recorded a case of the clade 1 variant just hours after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency. Dr Rajesh Hembrom told islanders: ‘There is no significant cause for concern at this stage but the situation is being monitored closely. ‘Jersey currently has adequate stocks of the vaccine, and we are awaiting further guidance from the UK Health Security Agency. We expect this in the coming days.’
11:06 am
Mpox not the new Covid, WHO official says
A World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said that mpox, both clade 1 and clade 2 strains, are not the ‘new Covid’ because authorities understand how to control it. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said during a media briefing: ‘We can and must tackle mpox together. ‘So will we choose to put the systems in place to control and eliminate mpox globally? Or we will enter another cycle of panic and neglect? How we respond now and in the years to come will prove a critical test for Europe and the world.’ He added that the focus on the new clade 1 strain gives Europe a chance to refocus on the less severe clade 2 variety, including better public health advice and surveillance.
August 20, 2024
10:41 am
Border controls and vaccination plan ruled out by EU over mpox spread
Jasper King
Health authorities in Europe have ruled out border controls or a vaccination plan because it says the risk to the wider public is considered ‘low’. A European Commission spokesperson told Euronews there is no need to update the mpox vaccination plan from 2022. It said in a statement: ‘The HSC members agreed on the importance of a closely coordinated approach and the need to continue monitoring the situation very closely.’ The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency last week (Picture: AFP via Getty Images). Vaccination recommendations are maintained for certain groups, but extending this to the general population was ruled out for now. The Spanish government announced it would work with airport authorities and airlines to increase the information available for people travelling to Spain. The meeting was held after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency following the emergence of the clade 1 variant in parts of Africa.
9:16 am
Expert weighs in on likelihood of mpox lockdown in the UK
Jasper King
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency last week over the spread of mpox. Some are now questioning whether the virus could cause another lockdown in the UK and other countries. The declaration of a global health emergency means mpox is now of international concern and constitutes a health risk to other countries around the globe. But it also means countries get more emergency funding, better government coordination, and easier vaccine procurement, which prevents things like a lockdown from happening. The R number was a familiar term of phrase when the coronavirus pandemic gripped the globe. An R of one means that each infected person passes the disease on to one other person on average. When the R number is below one, this means the virus peters out but the higher it is above one the faster it spreads. According to Michael Marks, professor of medicine, because there does not appear to be much transmission by people who have the infection but not yet symptoms, the R number is not much above one. This means it is unlikely to become a global pandemic. He said: ‘It’s not like Covid or flu where the natural number is four or five and it takes a huge effort to get it down. ‘Good public health interventions should be able to significantly alter the spread. The difficulty is that some of the people with mild symptoms won’t assume that it’s mpox.’
August 19, 2024
11:11 pm
50,000 vaccines to be donated to Africa
Brooke Davies
Emergent BioSolutions said on Monday it would donate 50,000 doses of its vaccine, ACAM2000, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other impacted countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda to address the current mpox outbreak. The World Health Organization last week declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the disease, known as clade Ib, spread rapidly in Africa. Emergent’s vaccine, approved for smallpox, has been used as an mpox shot but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is yet to approve its application for use against the virus. The United States has promised 50,000 vaccine doses for DRC, while Japan on Monday agreed Monday to send 3.5 million doses, ‘only for children,’ a medical source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. The source said that DRC ‘plans to vaccinate four million people including 3.5 million children’.
8:47 pm
Experts fear this is the ‘biggest outbreak of mpox ever’
Brooke Davies
Professor Michael Marks, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said this is the largest outbreak of the disease. He told The Guardian: ‘This is far and away the biggest outbreak of mpox ever, with quite a high fatality rate. ‘It’s not likely to lead to a Covid-19 style pandemic. There will be concerns about its spread in countries with more resources, but it’s chiefly going to be a problem in the region.’ It comes as the World Health Organisation declared a public health emergency and has reported over 17,000 mpox cases and over 500 deaths worldwide this year. Mpox cases have been confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen African countries, and a new form of the virus is spreading. Congo, which has seen 96% of recorded cases, currently needs 3 million vaccine doses.
6:19 pm
Country worst hit by deadly mpox strain will receive first vaccines this week
Brooke Davies
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has requested vaccine supplies amid the worst outbreaks of the disease, the country’s health minister said. The country hopes to receive its first doses of mpox vaccine by next week and has been promised doses by the United States and Japan. Japan’s Ministry of Health is preparing to provide the supplies, in cooperation with the World Health Organization and other partners. Japan-based KM Biologics is one of the manufacturers of an mpox vaccine. Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic makes another vaccine, called Jynneos, for the disease. Japan holds a stockpile of the KM Biologics vaccine. Outside clinical trials, neither of the shots have ever been available in Congo or across Africa, where the disease has been endemic for decades.
5:41 pm
Russia is not at risk due to the country’s ‘traditional values’
Brooke Davies
Russian officials have said the country is not at risk of catching the deadly clade 1 variant mpox due to their ‘traditional values’. Anna Popova, who heads the Russian consumer protection watchdog, hinted because the rate of infection is higher among gay people there is no risk of the disease spreading across the country. She said in a video posted to Telegram: ‘Considering the specifics of how mpox is spread, I am absolutely sure that in Russia with its traditional values this disease, which is an epidemic disease, is not something we need to be afraid of.’ Russia reported its first case of mpox in July 2022 in a man who had returned from Portugal. Popova said there had been three confirmed cases of infection in total. She said: ‘For Russia this does not present a danger. ‘We are not expecting it to spread, it won’t happen.’
August 19, 2024
4:02 pm
Government ministers meet to discuss UK plan for potential mpox outbreak
Jasper King
The UK’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty has joined government ministers to assess the UK’s preparedness for an outbreak of mpox. The new variant has already led to more than 17,000 cases and 541 deaths in Africa just this year after it emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The clade 1 variant has been detected in Sweden but has not yet been found in the UK. It comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency last week over the emergence of the new variant. Mr Whitty joined Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and ministers from the Department for Health and Foreign Office. Downing Street said they met to ‘ensure sufficient plans are in place to deal with any potential cases’.
3:05 pm
Case of mpox reported in Pakistan is clade 2 variety
Jasper King
A case of the mpox virus that was detected in Pakistan last week is of the clade 2 variety, the country’s government has confirmed. This is different from the clade 1 variant that is responsible for the rapid rise of cases in Africa. The clade 2 variety was previously recorded in Europe, Australia, the US, and many other countries in 2022 – and was mainly spread through sexual contact. A case of the clade 2 variant of mpox has already been detected in Sweden (Picture: Reuters). Sajid Hussain Shah, spokesman for the ministry of national health services in Pakistan said: ‘As of now, there have been no reported cases of clade I in Pakistan.’ A case of the more deadly clade 1 variant was recorded in Sweden last week, the first sign of its spread outside of Africa. It is yet to be confirmed whether a case recorded in the Philippines is of the clade 1 or clade 2 variety.
2:36 pm
What is the risk that mpox will spread to the UK?
Jasper King
A global health emergency over the spread of mpox was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week. But what is the risk that the new Clade 1 variant will begin to spread to the UK? There are currently no cases of Clade 1 mpox confirmed in the UK and Dr Meera Chand, Deputy Director at UKHSA, said: ‘The risk to the UK population is currently considered low. ‘However, planning is underway to prepare for any cases that we might see in the UK. ‘This includes ensuring that clinicians are aware and able to recognise cases promptly, that rapid testing is available, and that protocols are developed for the safe clinical care of people who have the infection and the prevention of onward transmission.’ This follows comments made by Professor Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, who said: ‘If somebody came into the UK today having just recently acquired mpox, it would take about two weeks before, on average, maybe a bit longer, before they developed symptoms, and maybe a few days after that before they sought care. ‘So it seems highly likely there are already cases here, but not certain.’
12:46 pm
How do I get tested for mpox?
Jasper King
Government guidance on mpox states it is diagnosed by a PCR test for the virus on a viral swab taken from one or more vesicles or ulcers. Swabs should be sent in viral transport media. Below is information as to how you carry out a test:
- Ensure you are wearing the minimum appropriate PPE as above.
- Take a viral swab in viral culture medium or viral transport medium from an open sore or from the surface of a vesicle. If other wounds are present, ensure that the sample is taken from a vesicle, an ulcer or a crusted vesicle. Rub the swab over the lesion and place the swab in the collection tube. If there are pharyngeal lesions, a throat swab should also be taken. Label the tube with the patient’s name and date of birth, the date and site of the sample. Unlabelled tubes cannot be processed.
- A viral throat swab can be taken for high-risk contacts of a confirmed or highly probable case who have developed systemic symptoms but do not have a rash or lesions that can be sampled. Even if the throat swab is negative, the individual must continue with monitoring and isolation as instructed by their local health protection team, and should be reassessed and sampled if further symptoms develop.
- Samples for investigation of other infections, including sexually transmitted infections, should be packaged separately, with separate request forms.
- Samples should be sent to your normal local laboratory. Testing for other infections, for example HSV, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), or syphilis, should follow normal local procedures.
12:06 pm
Philippines records first mpox case this year
Jasper King
A 33-year-old man has contracted mpox in the Philippines, the nation’s first recorded case this year. It is not yet known whether this is a strain of the Clade 1 variant that has been responsible for the rapid spread of the virus. Albert Domingo, spokesperson for the country’s Department of Health (DOH) said: ‘We are awaiting sequencing results and will update once available. ‘Symptoms started more than a week ago with fever, which was followed four days later by findings of a distinct rash on the face, back, nape, trunk, groin, as well as palms and soles.’ This case in the Philippines is the 10th laboratory-confirmed case since July 2022 and the first since December 2023.
10:49 am
Could Mpox cause another lockdown?
Jasper King
As the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency last week over the spread of mpox, some may be questioning whether the virus could cause another lockdown in the UK and other countries. The declaration of a global health emergency means mpox is now of international concern and constitutes a health risk to other countries around the globe. But it also means countries will get more emergency funding, better government coordination, and easier vaccine procurement, which prevents things like a lockdown from happening. The R number was a familiar term of phrase when the coronavirus pandemic gripped the globe. An R of one means that each infected person passes the disease on to one other person on average. When the R number is below one, this means the virus peters out but the higher it is above one the faster it spreads. According to Michael Marks, professor of medicine, because there does not appear to be much transmission by people who have the infection but not yet symptoms, the R number is not much above one. This means it is unlikely to become a global pandemic. He said: ‘It’s not like Covid or flu where the natural number is four or five and it takes a huge effort to get it down. ‘Good public health interventions should be able to significantly alter the spread. The difficulty is that some of the people with mild symptoms won’t assume that it’s mpox.’
Olivia-Woosey,olivia-woosey and Jasper King