According to experts, the monkeypox outbreak is a very different situation from the COVID pandemic, but we cannot be “complacent.”
Although the outbreak of monkeypox in several African countries it’s worryingthe situation differs from what the world experienced just four years ago with COVID-19, as experts explain to ‘Euronews Health’.
However, it is urgent to respond to the mpox, especially because Cases of a new variant that is probably more transmissible continue to spreadespecially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and it is likely that reach other countries.
A case of this new variant, clade 1b, has been confirmed in Sweden, and another case has been confirmed this week in Thailand, both in people who had traveled to countries with outbreaks.
Meanwhile, European health authorities raised the risk level for the region last week, days after the World Health Organization (WHO) will declare mpox a global health emergency.
Euronews Health spoke to experts about whether Europeans should worry and some of their key messages about the possibility of eliminating the virus.
Monkeypox (mpox) is not COVID
Monkeypox is a infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus which usually causes skin rashes or lesions among other symptoms, such as fever or muscle pain.
The virus was previously declared a global health emergency in 2022, but experts say it is very different from the last global health crisis, COVID-19.
“People shouldn’t be alarmed in Europe due to the possibility of a repeat of a COVID-like situation due to mpox,” Dr. Marc-Alain Widdowson, WHO Europe head for high-threat pathogens, told ‘Euronews Health’. COVID-19, for example, it is a respiratory virus, while mpox is “quite difficult to contract”“he added.
“It takes a degree of prolonged contact to be able to contract it or intense contact, such as sexual intercourse [que han sido] the predominant mode of transmission in Europe,” he explained.
A less severe variant of mpox, known as clade II, continues to spread in European countriesand WHO Europe estimates that there are about 100 new cases per month in the region.
However, there is concern that the mpox virus has evolved with variant 1b – the new strain of the virus, historically more serious -, spreading to several African countries in which there were no cases before.
Experts have said it is likely more transmissible, but more information is needed. “We have already eliminated variant II [en Europa]the last thing we want is for variant I to be introduced,” Widdowson said.
But while COVID-19 spread more easily through the population as an airborne pathogen, mpox requires “human-to-human contact, so it’s harder to transmit,” Tariq said.
Widdowson added that mpox is a virus that European countries have faced for the last two yearss, so they know how to contain it.
“But having said that, we cannot rest on our laurels and we have to ensure that we investigate and close any imports into the region,” he said.
ADVERTISINGIs the elimination of mpox possible in Europe?
Experts say that in Europe missed an opportunity during the last health emergency not to completely eliminate mpox, but that the new global focus on this virus could help revitalize those efforts.
“I think we now have an opportunity to take a hard look at our response, to think about vaccinate people who are at highest risk of contracting variant IIto be really attentive to the cases, carry out tests and make sure that we have adequate diagnoses to know if we are dealing with a variant II or variant I virus,” Tariq told ‘Euronews Health’.
Widdowson, for his part, recommends that European governments expand surveillance and communicate data “rapidly and transparently.”
This includes isolating patients, tracing their contacts and investigating what the virus does.
ADVERTISINGIn Europe, theVariant II spread most frequently among men who have sex with menbut the type can affect different demographic groups.
However, the WHO does not recommend border closures or restrictions on travelers, something that Widdowson says can contribute to stigmatization.
Infections have no borders
For Tariq, the outbreaks currently occurring offer “very important lessons” about global vaccine equity. Developed countries have been criticized for not sharing vaccines equitably, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sharing pathogen information in exchange for access to vaccines and treatments in developing countries is one of the key issues that have been delaying negotiations on a global pandemic treaty.
ADVERTISINGRegarding mpox, the European Commission announced plans with the pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic to provide more than 215,000 doses of the MVA-BN mpox vaccine to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The French Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, has declared that 232 vaccination points have been opened in the country and that The French Government will also donate 100,000 doses of vaccines through the European Union to the most affected countries.
However, according to Widdowson, there should be an automatic vaccine delivery mechanism.
The emergence of mpox also shows that “infections have no borders,” according to UCL’s Tariq. “We live in an interconnected world. We cannot be complacent and contain infections where they originate,” he said.
ADVERTISING“We need to support our colleagues in the most affected regions to manage this outbreaknot only for their populations, but also for ours,” he added.
