The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control raised its risk level for mpox on Friday, a day after global health officials confirmed one infection with a new strain of the virus in Sweden, the first outside of Africa.
The EU public health body’s head said there will be more imported cases of the new mpox strain in Europe in the coming weeks, though the risk of sustained transmission remains low.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency, its highest form of alert, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighbouring countries.
Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill. Two strains are now spreading in Congo – the endemic form of the virus, clade I, and a new offshoot called clade Ib.
The ECDC on Friday raised its risk level assessment for mpox to “moderate” from “low” for sporadic cases appearing in the bloc, and asked countries to maintain high levels of awareness among travellers visiting from affected areas.
“Due to the close links between Europe and Africa, we must be prepared for more imported clade I cases,” its director Pamela Rendi Wagner said.
Pakistan also confirmed on Friday a case of the mpox virus in a patient who had returned from a Gulf country, though it was not clear whether it was of the new variant or of the clade that has been spreading globally since 2022.
WHO official Margaret Harris said on a media call on Friday that she expects more cases outside Africa to emerge soon, also as a result of heightened monitoring.
However, the WHO has advised against any travel restrictions to stop the spread of the virus.
China said on Friday it plans to monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox for the next six months.
In a related development, an official of the Red Cross and Red Crescent humanitarian network said on Friday, noted that far more diagnostic kits, treatments and vaccines are expected to be shipped into Africa to respond adequately to the outbreak of the new strain of the mpox virus there.
Similarly, the head of global vaccine group Gavi told Reuters it has up to $500 million to spend on getting shots to countries affected by the escalating outbreak in Africa.
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