Editor's note: Sweden announced a case of clade 1 mpox on Aug. 15, the first outside Africa. The person had spent time in Africa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a surge of mpox in Africa to be a public health emergency of international concern. U.S. officials say the risk of importation here is very low.
“The detection and rapid spread of new clade of mpox in eastern DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox and the potential further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Ph.D., M.Sc., said in a press conference Wednesday. “In addition to other outbreaks of other clades of mpox in other parts of Africa, it’s clear that coordinated international response is essential to stop this outbreak and save lives.”
There have been more than 15,600 mpox cases and 537 deaths in the DRC this year, surpassing the case counts in all of last year, according to the WHO. The majority of the cases are in children under 15 years and linked to clade 1a. However, a new Mpox clade, 1b, emerged last year and has been spreading in the eastern DRC and neighboring countries primarily through sexual contact among adults. Mpox clade II, which caused a global outbreak in 2022 but tends to be less severe, also continues to spread in Africa and around the world.
WHO leaders say more research is needed on how clade 1b is spreading and who is at highest risk. They also are asking for vaccine donations and international assistance with funding the response efforts. The organization has workers in Africa supporting case infection and contact tracing, helping with community engagement, training health workers and supporting clinicians.
Clade 1 has only been reported in central and eastern Africa. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined the risk posed by the clade 1 outbreak to the general U.S. population is very low due to the limited number of travelers from DRC region. There is a low to moderate risk for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men who have more than one sexual partner and people who have sex with these men regardless of gender.
Since the start of the global outbreak of mpox clade 2 in 2022, the U.S. has reported more than 33,000 mpox cases and 60 deaths. The virus in that outbreak has primarily spread through sexual and intimate contact.
The CDC said the U.S. has robust testing capacity and is helping communities monitor for both clades in wastewater samples. It has provided guidance for diagnosing and treating patients. Vaccines are recommended for certain high-risk groups and is believed to protect against both clades.
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