Mpox virus outbreak: Thailand suspects first case as UK prepares vaccines and pledges £3.1m to Congo

Airline pilots operating to countries affected by mpox are being urged to “familiarise themselves with the key facts” on the disease, as compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A bulletin has been issued by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (Ifalpa), saying: “The WHO has just determined that the upsurge of Mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, following the emergence and rapid spread of a new virus strain.

“Several outbreaks of mpox have occurred in different countries, with different modes of transmission and different levels of risk.”

Pilots have been told to read up on transmission, signs and symptoms, treatment, vaccination, self-care and prevention.

Ifalpa says: “The WHO does not recommend any international travel restriction measures at this time.”

Before the spring of 2022, cases in the UK were usually associated with travel to or from West or Central Africa.

However, in May of that year sustained transmission of the virus was identified in the UK, leading to a large outbreak mostly in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men.

A vaccination programme was launched in the UK in the summer of 2022 and closed the following July.

According to the UKHSA, there were 3,732 confirmed and highly probable mpox cases reported in the UK up to December 31, 2022. In 2023 and up to July 31 this year, 286 cases were reported.

Of these, 269 were in England – with 116 patients presumed to have caught the virus in the UK and 82 outside of the country.

A £3.1 million UK Government package to tackle mpox will “ultimately benefit us all”, the Africa minister has said.

On a visit to the Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lord Collins of Highbury pledged money to prevent the spread of the disease, which was previously known as monkeypox.

Lord Collins said on his visit to Kinshasa: “Working together with our partners and using the expertise and dedication of Congolese scientists, including those at the world-leading research centre I have visited in DRC, our support will play an important role in ensuring global health security for all.

“By protecting the health and wellbeing of communities across DRC, and by helping contain these outbreaks, we reduce the risk of diseases spreading further afield. This will ultimately benefit us all.”

According to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the cash package will benefit more than 4.4 million people in already-affected communities, as part of a partnership with Unicef.

The first case of a new infectious strain of mpox has been detected in Europe.

Experts said the new strain is “associated with a more severe disease and higher mortality rates” than the one that caused the global mpox outbreak in 2022.

Swedish health officials announced that there has been one confirmed case of clade 1b on Thursday.

The country’s public health agency said a patient sought healthcare in Stockholm and is understood to have been infected during a visit to Africa.

Authorities are monitoring 43 individuals who may have been in contact with the patient.

“We have done a test and they definitely have mpox and it’s definitely not Clade 2,” Mr Thongchai was quoted as saying by AFP.

“We are convinced the person has the Clade 1 variant, but we have to wait to see the final result in the lab for two more days.”

Thailand previously detected 800 cases of the Clade 2 variant but not any of Clade 1 or Clade 1b.

Meanwhile, the European traveller has been quarantined, and lab tests are ongoing to confirm the strain.

A World Health Organization (WHO) official has stressed that mpox is not the new COVID.

The clarification comes as authorities say they know how to control its spread regardless of whether it is the new or old strain.

“We can and must tackle mpox together,” said Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, in a media briefing.

Thailand has reported a suspected first case of a new, more dangerous strain of mpox in a European traveller.

The patient, a 66-year-old man who arrived from an unnamed African country on 14 August, is believed to be infected by the Clade 1 variant, which is deadlier and more transmissible and triggered a warning from the world health authority last week.

The man had minimal contact with other people after he arrived in Thailand and sought medical attention the following day, authorities said.

“After he arrives from the flight there is very little timeframe where he comes into contact with others,” Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, head of the Department of Disease Control, told Reuters.

“He arrived around 6pm and on the next day, 15 August, he went to see the doctor at the hospital.”