How does mpox spread and what is the risk to the rest of the world? – Sky News

Mpox has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), with a new strain spreading across Africa at an alarming rate.

Officials announced last Wednesday that an outbreak of the strain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was now a "public health emergency of international concern".

It is the second time in three years that the WHO has designated an mpox epidemic as a global emergency.

It comes as the number of mpox cases reported so far this year has already exceeded last year's total, with more than 17,000 cases and 571 deaths according to the WHO.

But what is mpox, what are the symptoms, how is it treated, and what's being done about the outbreak?

The viral disease has occurred mostly in central and western Africa.

The most recent strain, first spotted in the DRC, has spread to neighbouring countries, including some that have never reported mpox cases before.

It was first identified in laboratory monkeys, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It used to be known as monkeypox, but was renamed in 2022 by the WHO after receiving complaints that the original name was "racist and stigmatising".

Most cases are mild, but it can be deadly.

The disease spreads through close contact with infected people, including via sex and other skin-to-skin contact, with the latest outbreak in the continent beginning with the spread of an endemic strain known as Clade 1.

The new variant that has emerged, known as Clade 1b, appears to spread more easily through close contact, particularly among children.

Jean Claude Udahemuka, from the University of Rwanda, said last month that Clade 1b is "undoubtedly the most dangerous so far of all the known strains of mpox".

What are the symptoms?

Common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or pus-filled lesions which can last two to four weeks.

The rashes can be located anywhere on the body and some people may only have one, while others can have hundreds or more.

These are other symptoms listed by the CDC:

The WHO says people may start to feel unwell before they get a rash or skin lesions, while for others the skin symptoms can be the first or only sign.

People with more severe mpox can suffer with the following symptoms, according to the WHO:

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New-born babies, children, people who are pregnant and people with underlying immune deficiencies may be at higher risk of more serious mpox disease and death, the WHO adds.

How is it treated?

Currently, there is no treatment approved specifically for mpox infections, according to the CDC.

It says that for most patients with mpox who have intact immune systems and don't have a skin disease, supportive care and pain control will help them recover without medical treatment.

People with severe mpox may require hospital treatment, supportive care and antiviral medicines to reduce the severity of lesions and shorten the time to recovery, the WHO says.

Many years of research on treatments for smallpox have led to the development of products that may also be useful for treating mpox, it adds.

It says an antiviral developed to treat smallpox called tecovirimat was approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of mpox under exceptional circumstances in 2022. It also said its use for mpox has been limited so far.

However, a two-dose vaccine has been developed to protect against the virus, which is widely available in Western countries but not in Africa.

Scientists from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) say they need more than 10 million vaccine doses but only 200,000 are available.

How did things get worse in Africa?

Mpox has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades after it was first detected in humans in DR Congo in 1970.

But the Clade 1b strain first emerged in September among sex workers in the DRC mining town of Kamituga, about 170 miles (273km) from the border with Rwanda.

Africa CDC has said 96% of all cases and deaths were in the DRC, but it has also spread to neighbouring countries, with 18 nations reporting cases of mpox.

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'It's an emergency for the entire globe'

The WHO declared an emergency as it thinks the strain is "potentially the outbreak that can become a pandemic," according to Dr Jean Kaseya, the director general of Africa Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention.

When making the announcement, the WHO's director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighbouring countries are very worrying.

"On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it's clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives."

The WHO's committee chair, Professor Dimie Ogoina, added: "The current upsurge of mpox in parts of Africa, along with the spread of a new sexually transmissible strain of the monkeypox virus, is an emergency, not only for Africa, but for the entire globe.

"Mpox, originating in Africa, was neglected there, and later caused a global outbreak in 2022. It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself."

The WHO says it is focusing on making the vaccines more widely available, particularly for lower-income countries.

A day after the global emergency was declared, Swedish officials confirmed the country had recorded its first case of the new mpox variant.

Are there cases in the UK - and have there been before?

There are currently no cases of the virus in the UK, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said, and its deputy director Dr Meera Chand claims the risk "is currently considered low".

"However, planning is under way to prepare for any cases that we might see in the UK," she added.

"This includes ensuring that clinicians are aware and able to recognise cases promptly, that rapid testing is available, and that protocols are developed for the safe clinical care of people who have the infection and the prevention of onward transmission."

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Government officials have now met to "ensure sufficient plans are in place to deal with any potential cases," Downing Street said.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert, told Sky News it was "very likely" someone in the UK already has the new variant of the viral disease.

However, he said it probably wouldn't be confirmed for a few weeks until people with symptoms visit a doctor and their samples are tested.

There have been cases in the UK before, with most seen in 2022 when there was a global outbreak of a milder strain which spread to more than 100 countries, prompting the WHO to declare a public health emergency of international concern on 23 July 2022.

A total of 2,137 cases had been confirmed in the UK at that stage, but by 31 December 2022 that number had soared to 3,732 cases - 3,553 were in England, 34 in Northern Ireland, 97 in Scotland and 48 in Wales.

Before the spring of 2022, UK cases were usually associated with travel to or from countries where mpox is endemic, particularly in western or central Africa.

But in May that year, there was a large outbreak in the UK, mostly in men who are gay, bisexual, or have sex with other men.

A vaccination programme was launched in the UK in the summer of 2022 and closed the following July.

There have been no reported deaths due to mpox in the UK.

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How does mpox spread and what is the risk to the rest of the world? - Sky News