What is of particular concern is the severity of disease seen especially in people who are immunocompromised, and in pregnant women and children.
Mpox, a viral illness first identified in Africa in 1970, made headlines in 2022 when it spread across the globe for the first time. Since then, the outbreak has evolved, with multiple strains of the virus circulating in different countries. A new strain, known as clade Ib, first discovered in the Democratic of the Republic of Congo , is responsible for much of the most recent surge in mpox cases.
She explained that the different mpox clades and sub-clades have mutated so they have genetic differences but still fall under the umbrella of mpox. The clade Ib strain has since spread from the DRC to neighbouring countries Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, according to Braka. Sweden and Thailand have also identified one case each., the WHO reported that there have been 3 751 confirmed cases of mpox and 32 deaths across 14 countries in African in 2024 alone. But there are many more suspected cases of mpox that have not been tested.De Oliveira said at this point, South Africa shouldn’t be overly concerned about mpox, but it should be alert.
De Oliveira cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the severity of this new clade without sufficient data. He said we don’t know for sure yet if clade Ib is causing more severe disease than IIb. What we do know from mpox in general, he said, is that when someone is immunocompromised in some way, they tend to develop more severe symptoms.
While these vaccines exist, it doesn’t mean everyone can access them easily. Countries on the African continent have so far relied on vaccine donations facilitated by the WHO, withfor emergency use listing , according to WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He added this will allow UNICEF and the vaccine alliance GAVI to buy the vaccines to supply to countries that haven’t issued their own national regulatory approval yet.
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