HQ Team
September 24, 2024: The US national public agency has issued a Health Alert Network on the ongoing outbreak of the Clade I monkeypox virus, warning its nationals to avoid sex and proximity with an infected person.
In an update to the health advisory on the monkeypox virus issued on August 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated transmission in countries where the virus is endemic was due to sexual contact or direct contact with the respiratory systems of the infected.
The respiratory secretions include mucus and snot or contaminated objects such as bedding.
During the global clade II outbreak, human-to-human transmission of mpox has been predominantly spreading through sexual contact. During 2024, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported more than 21,000 suspected clade I mpox cases, its largest annual number on record.
Sexual contact
Although the proportion of people impacted in DRC, with a population of 99 million is relatively low, cases are more widespread than in any previously reported DRC outbreak.
Clade Ia mpox cases are impacting the western part of DRC. No cases of Clade Ia mpox have been reported outside Central African countries where the Clade Ia virus is endemic.
Clade Ib mpox cases are impacting the eastern part of DRC and have been spread through regional travel.
Early data indicate that a large proportion of clade Ib mpox cases among adults has been associated with sexual contact, including via ongoing transmission believed to be occurring in some countries where the virus is not normally found, according to a CDC statement.
Jynneos vaccine
The agency advised travellers to DRC or other countries with sustained spread of Clade I mpox, “regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” to be aware of activities associated with cases.
The travellers should be vaccinated with two doses of Jynneos, manufactured by Bavarian Nordic if they anticipate certain sexual exposures while travelling.
Jynneos is a Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccine for the prevention of smallpox and monkeypox disease in adults 18 years or older at high risk for smallpox or monkeypox infection.
Although the United States continues to be affected by an ongoing global outbreak of clade II mpox that began in 2022, no domestic cases of clade I mpox have been identified in the United States at this time.
On August 14, the WHO declared mpox as a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), the second in two years.
Orthopoxvirus, mpox was first detected in humans in 1970, in the DRC. The disease is considered endemic to countries in Central and West Africa. Several outbreaks of different clades of mpox have occurred in different countries, with different modes of transmission and different levels of risk.
