Mpox Africa Outbreak Needs More Testing, Europe CDC Chief Says
A mutated strain of the virus that causes mpox, which is fueling an outbreak in several African countries, is likely to lead to sporadic imported cases in Europe, the chief of the region’s main health-advisory body said.
(Bloomberg) -- A mutated strain of the virus that causes mpox, which is fueling an outbreak in several African countries, is likely to lead to sporadic imported cases in Europe, the chief of the region’s main health-advisory body said.
“What we can expect and must expect actually is more sporadic, imported cases to the European continent,” European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner said on Bloomberg Television Wednesday. “The member states, the surveillance systems, the medical facilities have to be prepared.”
While it’s a very unstable and fluid situation in Africa, the agency is monitoring the situation and calling for more testing and diagnostics, Rendi-Wagner said. Still, the outbreak isn’t like Covid-19 and the risk to Europeans is low, she said.
Africa has dealt with mpox since the 1970s, with little international attention. Even though it is the only region where the disease is endemic, it didn’t receive mpox vaccines in 2022 as a milder strain erupted globally.
The spread of the new strain of mpox from Democratic Republic of Congo has seen the number of cases on the continent increase to almost 19,000 from around 17,500 last week. The first lot of vaccines are expected to arrive in Africa in the coming days.
As scientists scramble to understand more about the new clade Ib variety, better surveillance and data on this variant is needed.
“There are many open questions, many unknowns at the moment,” Rendi-Wagner said. “The big thing now for the experts globally is to fill these gaps of knowledge in order to give more precise answers.”
In Europe, there are monitoring facilities including contact tracing, testing and diagnostics in place so that the region can respond as quickly as possible if there is a sporadic case and avoid further spread, she said.
--With assistance from Bashirat Oladele.
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