Mpox Not Another COVID-19, WHO Assures, Highlighting Control Measures

While acknowledging the need for further research on the newly dominant Clade 1b strain, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed that the current mpox outbreak is not comparable to the coronavirus pandemic, CBS News reports.

The WHO’s European director, Hans Kluge, emphasized that significant knowledge exists regarding the virus and effective methods for controlling its spread.

In July 2022, the WHO declared a PHEIC over the international outbreak of the less severe Clade 2b strain of mpox, which mostly affected gay and bisexual men. The alarm was lifted in May 2023.

“Mpox is not the new COVID,” Kluge insisted. “We know how to control mpox and, in the European region, the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether,” he told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link.

“Two years ago, we controlled mpox in Europe thanks to the direct engagement with the most affected communities,” he said. We put in place robust surveillance; we thoroughly investigated new cases contacts; and we provided sound public health advice. Behavior change, non-discriminatory public health action, and mpox vaccination contributed to controlling the outbreak.”

Kluge said the risk to the general population from the virus was low.

“Are we going to go in lockdown in the WHO European region, [as if] it’s another COVID-19? The answer is clearly no,” he said.

Kluge said the predominant route of transmission remained close skin-to-skin contact, but he said it was possible that someone in the acute phase of mpox infection, especially with blisters in the mouth, could transmit the virus to close contacts by droplets, in circumstances such as in the home or in hospitals.

“The modes of transmission are still a bit unclear. More research is required,” he said.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said the agency was not recommending the use of masks.

“We are not recommending mass vaccination. We are recommending to use vaccines in outbreak settings for the groups who are most at risk,” he added.

On August 14, the WHO declared an international health emergency due to the escalating mpox outbreak, particularly concerned by the rise of the Clade 1b strain in the DR Congo and its spread to neighboring states. Earlier, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the mpox outbreaks a public health emergency, with over 500 deaths attributed to the disease.

The African CDC called for international assistance to contain the spread.