Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on news that the first case of Clade Ib Mpox has been detected in the UK.
Dr Brian Ferguson, Associate Professor of Immunology, University of Cambridge, said:
“The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced today that it has detected a single confirmed human case of Clade Ib mpox in the UK. This case is from an individual who has recently returned from travelling in countries in Africa where there are currently cases of Clade 1b mpox being found in the community. This is an unsurprising event and likely will not be the only time this happens in the UK. It follows discovery of similar imported cases in Germany and Sweden and other countries globally. The close contacts of this individual are being sought and should be offered testing and vaccines in line with current policy to help reduce the chances of onward transmission. The UK government recently purchased 150,000 doses of mpox vaccine from Bavarian Nordic to help with such efforts, although the longevity of the protection afforded by this vaccine has recently been called into question. The clade 1b mpox is more virulent than clade 2 virus that caused the outbreak in 2022 and is causing more cases of disease in younger people than the clade 2 virus in Africa. As such continued surveillance and early diagnosis and treatment is very important to minimise the chances of onward transmission of imported cases.”
Prof Jonathan Ball, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and Professor of Molecular Virology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said:
“This is not unexpected. There are active human to human transmission chains of Clade 1b monkeypox infections in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore people coming into close contact with anyone infected is at risk.
“WHO previously announced the Mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in recognition of its potential for continued and potentially accelerated spread if the global community did not come together in a concerted effort to stamp out the current outbreak. This was more recently backed up by the announcement yesterday of activation of the Global Health Emergency Corps to strengthen the response.
“The number of cases reported outside of Africa remains low, but the ability of Clade 1b virus to spread by human to human transmission means that this issue can not be ignored. It is unlikely that we will see extensive outbreaks in countries with well developed public health and surveillance systems, but it is a reminder that we need to do more to remove health inequalities around the world.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-detects-first-case-of-clade-ib-mpox
Declared interests
Dr Brian Ferguson: “I don’t have any conflicts of interest.”
For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.