Mutant mpox declared global health emergency by WHO after rapid spread

MUTANT mpox has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation after its rapid spread to 13 countries.

The highly contagious disease has killed at least 500 people and infected 13,700 during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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The virus – formally known as monkeypox – has now spread to 12 other countries in Africa, and scientists are concerned about how fast a new variant of the disease is spreading and its high fatality rate.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond “is very worrying”.

“A co-ordinated international response is essential to stop this outbreak and save lives,” he said.

Mpox is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.

There are two main types of mpox – clade 1 and clade 2.

A previous mpox public health emergency, declared in 2022, was caused by the relatively mild clade 2.

However, this time it is the far more deadly clade 1 variant that is surging.

It has a fatality rate of around five per cent in adults and 10 per cent in children, compared to three per cent for its predecessor.

In April, alarm bells were raised when scientists found a new easier-to-catch strain of mpox called clade 1b which had “pandemic potential” in Kamituga, a small mining town in the DRC.

Doctor Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, from the WHO, warned: “In the past month, about 90 cases of clade 1b have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported mpox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

“But we are not dealing with one outbreak of one clade – we are dealing with several outbreaks of different clades in different countries with different modes of transmission and different levels of risk.”

WHO’S labelling of a “public health emergency of international concern” is meant to encourage member countries to begin preparing for the virus.

This could entail the sharing of vaccines and treatments with poorer nations.

Dr Josie Golding, from the Wellcome Trust, said it was a “strong signal”, while Emory University’s Dr Boghuma Titanji said the move “underscores the gravity of the crisis”.

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Prof Trudie Lang, the director of the Global Health Network at the University of Oxford, said it was “important and timely”, but added that the emergence of a new strain meant there were “many unknowns that need to be addressed”.

On Tuesday, scientists from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared a public health emergency.

The head of the organisation, Jean Kaseya, warned that this current outbreak could spiral out of control if immediate steps were not taken to contain it.

“We must be proactive and aggressive in our efforts to contain and eliminate this threat,” he said.

Health chiefs outside Africa are keeping track of the situation to assess the risk of the outbreak spreading further.

Prof Marion Koopmans, from the Pandemic and Disaster Management Centre, said the risk of the virus coming to Europe is “small although it is possible”.

Experts have previously told the Sun the disease could easily spread via international travel.

Mpox is a viral infection that causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.

Until a few years ago most cases of it were reported in central and west Africa.

But in 2022, the WHO declared a public health emergency when the clade 2 strain triggered the global outbreak that reached over 100 countries – including the UK.

That outbreak was brought under control by vaccinating vulnerable groups.

Like clade 2, most new infections in the DRC appear to have been sexually transmitted.

But there have also been cases of the new bug spreading through touch alone in schools and workplaces.

BUGS DON’T RECOGNISE BORDERS

Vaccines and treatments were previously used to combat the global outbreak but they are not available in many countries, including Congo.

Earlier this month, authorities said it had reached the major city of Goma, which has an international airport that operates frequent direct flights to and from Europe. 

“Pathogens don’t recognise borders,” Ben Oppenheim, a global health experts and senior director of US company Ginkgo Biosecurity, previously told the Sun.

“Goma is an important regional transit point, which heightens the risk of the virus spreading regionally and potentially globally – including to Europe and the UK,” he said.

Trudie Lang, professor of global health research at Oxford University, added: “It is quite possible people with the infection and who are infectious could get on a flight and transmit this elsewhere.”

Symptoms of mpox could include a fever, respiratory issues, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes.

Rashes on the hands, feet, chest, mouth or genitals can also appear.

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