Everything you need to know about the new monkeypox variant that has WHO so worried

CEO of the company World Health Organization (WHO)Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on emergency committee due to the rapid spread of the outbreak monkey pox in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is nothing new in this country. Monkeypox is a very common disease within its borders. In fact, in 2022, there was already another major outbreak in this and other African countries, which even spread beyond the continent. But there is reason for increased concern for the WHO: the strain is different and It seems to be spreading much more.

The aim of the emergency committee, which will meet “as soon as possible,” is to decide whether to declare an international emergency. This strain of monkeypox has spread primarily through Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)but cases were also identified in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and UgandaThese are countries that have not previously reported any cases of the disease, so there are concerns that their spread will continue to grow.

It is currently estimated that the outbreak, which began in 2023, has affected at least 27,000 people. Of all of them, 1100 diedmostly children. The fact that these are the most affected patients further heightens concerns about what might happen in the future. It will be necessary to strengthen containment and vaccination strategiesBut all this will be decided at the upcoming meeting convened by WHO.

This is a new strain of monkeypox.

In fact, although this is a new strain of monkeypox, from a scientific point of view this is not the case. This virus has two genetic clades that were previously well known. Very roughThese are two slightly different variants genetically, but not enough to be considered different viruses. They are called Treasure I and Treasure IIMost outbreaks detected in Africa since the discovery of the disease belong to clade II.

The 2022 outbreak, which even spread worldwide, belonged to the IIb variant, which belongs to clade II. So, although it has spread widely and some cases continue to be detected, it was not severe. Clade I has so far caused only a few isolated outbreaks in Central and East Africa. This is much less common. But it is what is causing the current outbreak that has the WHO so worried.

This is variant Ib of clade I. It has been found in the RCD as well as in the rest of the African countries where it has spread, although the results of genetic analysis are still pending in Burundi. The biggest difference between this variant and those that typically cause monkeypox outbreaks is that it is much more contagious through direct contact. This is why there seem to be so many cases among children. They tend to have a lot of skin-to-skin contact with adults, as well as playing with other children.

Other versions required such close contact that it was almost considered a sexually transmitted disease (even though it wasn’t). In fact, most cases were found in men having sex with other men. But this situation seems different.

What should we expect?

We need to remain calm and wait for the WHO emergency committee to decide. At this point, we know that there are two monkeypox vaccines approved for emergency use by the RCH. The focus should be on the most vulnerable people, such as children or patients with HIV. The latter, in fact, are also among the most frequent fatal cases.

We will have to vaccinate according to this priority, but finally immunize as many people as possible. Once it is established whether this is an international emergency, it will be decided what to do in the rest of the world. There should be no panic at the moment, but we will be very careful about the decisions of the WHO.