Mpox spread, COVID-19 surge not at a worrying stage: Experts

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) – The spread of mpox and rise in COVID-19 cases in various countries around the world is not a major cause for worry at the moment, according to two prominent health experts.

The spread of mpox has sparked some concern around the world in recent weeks, with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declaring it a public health emergency of international and continental concern, respectively.

As of last week, Africa CDC had recorded 21,305 mpox cases – 3,326 confirmed and 17,979 suspected – and 590 deaths in 13 African countries this year, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo accounting for 96% of all cases and 97% of all deaths.

Cases have recently been confirmed in countries around the world, including Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia and Sweden.

For Europe, however, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) believes the current level of risk remains “low.”

“ECDC assess the risk for the EU/EEA population as low,” Bruno Ciancio, head of the agency’s surveillance section, told Anadolu.

He stressed that the mpox virus has “existed for several decades” and there are “effective and safe vaccines” for the disease.

This virus also “requires close contact for transmission from person to person,” he said.

He dismissed comparisons with the COVID-19 pandemic: “This is a completely different situation than what happened with the emergence of COVID-19, i.e. a new virus, easily transmissible from person to person, and against which there wasn’t any available vaccine.”

Regarding a spike in COVID-19 cases in Europe, particularly in France during the recently concluded Paris Olympics, Ciancio stressed that the ECDC has observed no “concerning trends” and “the current epidemiological situation does not require additional policies than those already in place.”

EU member countries are recommended, however, to “strengthen vaccine recommendations for influenza and COVID-19 among risk groups ahead and through the winter season,” he added.

- Need to ‘extinguish’ mpox in its epicenter

Pierre Tattevin, a French infectious diseases specialist, stressed the importance of measures to contain and eliminate mpox in its current epicenter, Africa.

He also emphasized the differences between mpox and COVID-19, saying that the latter was “nothing like we had ever seen before.”

The hardest part with COVID-19 was that an infected person could spread it before there were any symptoms, which made surveillance and contact tracing all the more difficult, he said.

With mpox, an infected person cannot spread it to others until there are symptoms, specifically skin rashes that appear in three weeks, which is the maximum incubation period, he explained.

In this case, there is no need for travel and other restrictions, according to Tattevin, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Rennes 1.

“What we lived through four years ago also showed that closing the borders does not work … It staves off the problem but it does not prevent it,” he said.

The need right now is to fight the epidemic in its very epicenter and “extinguish it there before it becomes a global issue,” he said.

To this end, Tattevin emphasized the importance of helping countries with fragile healthcare systems.

“If we helped them establish stronger healthcare systems, we would not have these types of epidemics spreading to various corners of the world, which would better protect the global population,” he said.

On the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, he said it is no longer a source of major concern.

“While we must not claim victory so fast, I do not think we need to do more,” he said.

For mpox, ECDC official Ciancio also pointed out a need to ensure “sufficient vaccine availability in Africa.”

That can prove to be “instrumental for controlling the outbreak and would represent a major achievement of global pandemic preparedness, following the lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.