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The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) raised the risk level of MPox on Friday (August 16) after global health officials confirmed a case of infection with the new strain of the virus in Sweden, the first outside Africa.
The head of the European Union’s public health agency said more imported cases of the new MPOx virus strain will appear in Europe in the coming weeks, but the risk of sustained transmission remains low.
The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that an outbreak of smallpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to neighboring countries, sounding the organization’s highest level of alert.
Poxvirus is a viral infection that causes purulent lesions and flu-like symptoms that are usually mild but can be fatal. Currently, there are two strains of the virus circulating in Congo – one that is prevalent locally, known as type I, and a new offshoot called type Ib.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on Friday raised the risk level of smallpox for sporadic cases in the European Union from “low” to “medium”, and asked countries to remain highly vigilant about travelers from epidemic areas.
“Because Europe and Africa are closely connected, we must be prepared for more imported type 1 cases,” said Pamela Lundy-Wagner, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Pakistan also confirmed a case of the MPox virus on Friday in a patient who returned from a Gulf country, but it is not yet clear whether the virus is a new variant or an evolutionary branch of the virus that has been spreading globally since 2022.
WHO official Margaret Harris said on a press call Friday that she expects more cases outside Africa to emerge soon because of increased surveillance.
However, the World Health Organization has advised against any travel restrictions to stop the spread of the virus.
China said on Friday it plans to implement MPOX monitoring on incoming people and goods over the next six months.
More diagnostic kits, therapeutic drugs and vaccines need to be sent to Africa to adequately respond to an outbreak of a new swine pox virus there, an official from the Red Cross and Red Crescent humanitarian network said on Friday.
The head of the Global Vaccine Alliance said the alliance has allocated about 450 million euros to distribute vaccines to African countries affected by the epidemic.
Shares of pharmaceutical companies developing the MPox vaccine rose on Friday.
Danish biotech Bavarian Nordic surged more than 15% after it said it had submitted data to the European Union’s medicines regulator for approval to expand the use of its mpox and smallpox vaccines to 12-17 year olds.
Tonix Pharmaceuticals, a US company, also saw its shares surge after it said it would move forward with its mpox vaccine.
“Given the global public health emergency, we are motivated to urgently advance the development of the MPox vaccine,” said Seth Lederman, the company’s chief executive.
Even shares of other mpox vaccine developers Emergent BioSolutions and GeoVax Labs rose in premarket trading.
Read more by Euractiv
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