Deadly Mpox Spreads to Seven Countries
The more fatal Clade 1b variant of the Mpox has been reported in seven countries with Thailand being the latest to report a case in a European man who allegedly arrived in the country from Africa last week.
According to reports, Pakistan, Sweden, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda earlier reported cases of the more virulent mpox infection which is more deadly and is responsible for more than 500 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.
There are two prominent kinds, or clades, of mpox, which is related to smallpox and endemic to Central and West Africa. Clade 1b is more severe and can kill up to 10 percent of people infected. The Clade 1b variant is responsible for more than 500 deaths in the central African nation Congo. Clade 2 triggered the 2022 outbreak; more than 99 percent of the people infected survived.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the viral infection a public health emergency of international concern based on the surge of clade Ib in the DRC and its appearance in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda — four countries that had not had mpox of any kind before.
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The clade 1b variant is turning out to be of greater concern with a fatality rate of 3.5 percent, data from Congo showed. Its spread is also a matter of huge concern because there is little known about it till now. The new variant is also harder to detect as it is targeting genitals instead of hands or chest like in earlier cases, scientists had earlier said.
Nigeria has recorded 39 cases of the milder clade 2 variant, but the country is currently on high alert with stringent surveillance measures in place according to the Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, NCDC, closely monitoring developments nationwide.
As part of the measures to curtail the Mpox threat, Nigeria expects to receive 10,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine for the high-risk groups, the NCDC confirmed.
According to health information, the Jynneos vaccine is a replication-deficient, live, and non-replicating vaccine approved to prevent smallpox and mpox in people 18 years and older determined to be at high risk
It is usually administered as a series of two injections, four weeks apart. People who have previously received the smallpox vaccine may only need one dose. Booster doses may be recommended every 2–10 years if a person is at continued risk of exposure to smallpox, mpox, or other orthopoxviruses.
