Geneva, Switzerland:

The WHO said Friday it had for the first time prequalified a mpox vaccine — a move expected to speed up access to the jabs to fight an epidemic raging in Africa.

The announcement came on the heels of the arrival of the first MVA-BN vaccines to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the epidemic.

“This first prequalification of a vaccine against mpox is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreaks in Africa and in future,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

“We now need urgent scale up in procurement, donations and rollout to ensure equitable access to vaccines where they are needed most… to prevent infections, stop transmission and save lives.”

WHO’s prequalification listing is used to evaluate the quality, safety and efficacy of medical products like vaccines, paving the way for the United Nations and other international agencies to procure them.

The list is also used by lower-income countries without the means to carry out their evaluations to fast-track procurement approvals.

“The WHO prequalification of the MVA-BN vaccine will help accelerate ongoing procurement of the mpox vaccines by governments and international agencies… on the frontlines of the ongoing emergency in Africa and beyond,” said Yukiko Nakatani, WHO’s assistant chief in charge of access to medicines and health products.

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact. 

It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, and can in some cases be deadly.

The WHO declared an international emergency over mpox last month, concerned by the surge in cases of the new Clade 1b strain in the DRC that spread to nearby countries.

DRC has recorded nearly 22,000 cases and 716 deaths linked to the virus since January.

So far, some 200,000 vaccine doses have been delivered to the DRC by the European Union, along with about 50,000 from the United States.

Safe and effective 

WHO said it had based its prequalification assessment on information submitted by the manufacturer of the MVA-BN vaccine, Bavarian Nordic A/S, and a review by the European Medicines Agency.

“Good safety profile and vaccine performance has been consistently demonstrated in clinical studies, as well as in real-world use,” it said.

According to the prequalification, the vaccine can be administered to people over the age of 18 as a two-dose injection given four weeks apart.

With a majority of mpox cases and deaths in the DRC in children, WHO stressed that the vaccine could be used “off-label” in infants, children and adolescents, as well as in pregnant and immunocompromised people.

“This means vaccine use is recommended in outbreak settings where the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential risks,” WHO said.

The agency also recommends single-dose use in outbreak settings where the supply of the vaccine is constrained, although it stressed that more data was needed on vaccine safety and effectiveness in such circumstances.

The currently available data, it said, shows that a single dose of the MVA-BN vaccine given before exposure has an estimated 76 per cent effectiveness in protecting against mpox, while two doses are estimated to be 82 per cent effective.  

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Thiruvananthapuram:

The Kerala health department on Friday said another Mpox case was reported in the state and urged those who have symptoms to seek treatment.

The southern state had reported the country’s first confirmed case of the new strain earlier this week.

A high-level evaluation meeting was held on Friday to evaluate the situation, the state health department said.

State Health Minister Veena George said the contact list of the patient has been prepared and the preventive measures have been taken.

The minister urged everyone who reached the state from abroad to approach the health department in case of any symptoms and seek treatment.

“Isolation facilities have been arranged in all the districts,” the minister said in a statement.

On September 23, the health department had announced plans to release revised guidelines for the prevention and treatment of Mpox.

George had said that instructions were issued to take necessary action if the number of cases increases.

Official sources in New Delhi had earlier said that India had reported the first case of the Mpox strain in a patient from Kerala who tested positive.

They had said that the Clade 1b strain was detected in a 38-year-old man from Malappuram district who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates.

Since the WHO’s 2022 declaration of Mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, 30 cases have been reported in India.

Mpox infections are generally self-limiting, lasting between two and four weeks, and patients usually recover with supportive medical care and management.

It is transmitted through prolonged and close contact with an infected patient.

Mpox typically manifests itself with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Centre today said that an mpox case involving a man in Kerala was from the fast-spreading clade 1b variety, marking South Asia’s first recorded case from the new strain. Health Ministry spokesperson Manisha Verma confirmed the strain after news agency ANI cited official sources as saying that the mpox case reported in Malappuram district of Kerala last week belonged to clade 1.

The patient is a 38-year-old man who had travelled from the United Arab Emirates and had been admitted to the government medical college hospital in the district, Kerala authorities said last week.

About 29 friends and family members of the patient along with 37 passengers on his flight are being monitored at home but none of them have shown any mpox symptoms so far, Malappuram district’s nodal officer, Dr Shubin C, told Reuters on Monday.

The office of the Kerala state health minister did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for details of the case.

India had so far not reported an mpox case from the new strain but central authorities had issued an advisory this month to all states to remain vigilant and be prepared to address potential cases.

The caution followed the rapid spread that prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare the outbreak a global health emergency after the new offshoot, first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo, began spreading to neighbouring countries.

India had reported about 30 cases and one death from the older strain, known as clade 2, between 2022 and March this year, and one more clade 2 case earlier this month.

Two strains of mpox are now spreading in Congo – the endemic form of the virus, clade 1, and the new clade 1b strain, with the term ‘clade’ referring to a form of the virus.

Mpox transmits through close physical contact, including sexual contact, but unlike previous global pandemics such as COVID-19 there is no evidence it spreads easily through the air.

It typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions, and is usually mild but can kill.

A healthcare worker treats an Mpox patient at a hospital in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province on September 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Health authorities have struggled to contain outbreaks of Mpox in Congo, a huge central African country where a myriad of existing problems makes stemming the spread particularly hard.

It has reached areas where conflict and the displacement of a large number of people have already put health services under pressure.

Overall, Congo has more than 21,000 of the 25,093 confirmed and suspected Mpox cases in Africa this year, according to WHO’s most recent count.

Congo is one of the African countries where Mpox has been endemic for decades.

Mpox, once known as monkeypox, comes from the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms such as fever. People with more serious cases can develop skin lesions.

More than 720 people in Africa have died in the latest outbreaks, mostly in Congo.

Mpox is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can spread to humans from infected animals. In the global Mpox outbreak of 2022, the virus spread between people primarily through sex and close physical contact.

In September 2023, Mpox spread to Congo’s eastern province of South Kivu; it had previously been seen in the centre and far west. Scientists then identified a new form of Mpox in South Kivu that may be more infectious.

The WHO said that from the outbreak in South Kivu, the virus spread among people elsewhere in the country, arriving in neighbouring province North Kivu.

Escalating crises

Those two provinces — some 2,000 kilometers from the capital, Kinshasa — face escalating violence, a humanitarian crisis and other issues. More than 120 armed groups have been fighting each other and the Congolese Army for years in the eastern part of the country over the control of minerals. That has forced millions of people fleeing into refugee camps or nearby towns.

That means Mpox is hitting already-stretched health facilities. Dr. Musole Mulambamunva Robert, medical director of the Kavumu hospital in eastern Congo, said it is “truly a challenge” — sometimes treating as many as four times the facility’s capacity for patients.

With more than 6 million displaced people in the east, authorities and aid agencies were already struggling to provide food and healthcare, while fighting other diseases such as cholera. Many people have no access to soap, clean water or other basics.

Some eastern Congo communities are out of reach of health clinics — roads are unreliable, and hours-long risky boat trips are sometimes the only means of transport, said Mercy Muthee Lake of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent.

People can be more susceptible to severe Mpox cases because of malnutrition and undiagnosed HIV, she said.

Africa has no capacity to produce Mpox vaccines. Around 2,50,000 doses have arrived in Congo from the European Union and the U.S., and more are expected. Congolese authorities say they need around 3 million vaccines.

For now, the vaccine is approved only for adults as there is only limited evidence of how it works in children.

Thiruvananthapuram:

Kerala on Wednesday confirmed India’s second Mpox, or monkeypox case. The patient has been isolated, the state has said, and is being treated in accordance with established medical protocols.

Health Minister Veena George said a 38-year-old man from Malappuram had tested positive after returning from the United Arab Emirates. She said the man, on noticing symptoms, acted correctly by isolating himself from his family and was then hospitalised at the state-run Manjeri Medical College.

In a post on Facebook Ms George also urged the public to seek treatment and inform the Health Department if they displayed any of the known symptoms.

Nine days ago India reported its first case – a young man, who had travelled from western Africa – tested positive in Delhi. He too is stable and has been isolated to prevent the virus from spreading.

There is no indication of widespread risk to the public at this time, the government had said, explaining that testing had confirmed the presence of ‘clade 2’ of the virus in the country, and that this particular strain is “similar to 30 cases reported earlier in India, from July 2022 onwards”.

READ | Isolated Mpox Case In India, But Not Part Of Current Outbreak

This strain, however, is not part of the public health emergency declared last month by the World Health Organization, the government said. The WHO notification was about ‘clade 1’ of the virus.

READ | New Mpox Strain Mutating Very Rapidly. How Scientists Are Responding

A ‘clade’ refers to a biological grouping that refers to all evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor or, in this case, a particular strain of virus.

Last week the government issued directives to all state and union territories to “review public health preparedness, particularly at health facility level at state and districts by senior officials”.

READ | “Prevent Undue Panic”: Centre’s Advisory To States On Mpox

This should include briefing healthcare workers, “especially those in skin/STD (sexually transmitted disease) clinics, about symptoms, differential diagnoses, and action to be taken following detection of Mpox”, the government said.

But it is “crucial”, the government also said to guard against “undue panic…”

Also, to ensure information about Mpox and its common symptoms is available to the public, the government referred to the latest WHO update, which indicates that a majority of patients are men aged 18 to 44, and present with rash (systemic or genital) followed by fever.

And the most commonly reported mode of transmission, the government said, is sexual contact, followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact.

Mpox infections are generally self-limiting and last from two to four weeks. Patients usually recover with supportive medical care. The virus is transmitted through prolonged and close contact with an infected individual, and it typically manifests with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes, officials have said.

WHO Declares Public Health Emergency

Last month the WHO declared Mpox a PHEIC, or Public Health Emergency of International Concern, based on the risk of spread of the current outbreak from beyond Africa, where a surge in cases has been reported from the Congo and other nations like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

There is also a new strain from the DRC, scientists said.

NDTV Explains | Mpox: What You Should Know About Latest Health Emergency

According to the WHO, so far over 120 countries have reported Mpox cases from January 2022 to August 2024. There have been over 100,000 lab-confirmed cases and around 220 deaths.

The WHO has said a vaccine can help prevent infection and that this can also be administered after a person comes in contact with an Mpox carrier. “In these cases, the vaccine should be given less than four days after contact (and) can be given for up to 14 days if the person has no symptoms…”

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Rabat:

Morocco has recorded a case of mpox in the tourist city of Marrakesh, the first in north Africa since the WHO declared an international emergency last month, the Africa CDC said.

“Africa CDC confirms the first mpox case in North Africa for 2024, reported by Morocco’s Ministry of Health” on September 12, a statement on the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention website said on Thursday.

With Morocco, 15 African Union member states have reported cases — now across every region of the continent, according to Africa CDC.

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

Sometimes deadly, it causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

The 32-year-old patient from Marrakesh “tested positive and is receiving treatment,” Africa CDC said.

“The Moroccan authorities have activated emergency operations, deployed a rapid response team and begun epidemiological investigations and contact tracing,” the statement added.

Morocco’s health ministry said separately that the patient was receiving care at a specialised medical centre in Marrakesh and was “in a stable health condition that does not give cause for concern”.

So far, nobody who has been in contact with the patient is showing symptoms, the ministry added.

The World Health Organization declared an international emergency on August 14, concerned by the surge in cases of the new Clade 1b strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo that spread to nearby countries.

Africa CDC figures show most of the cases are in Central Africa.

According to the agency, since the beginning of the year, 26,544 cases have been reported in the 15 affected countries, 5,732 of which were confirmed. It said that 724 deaths have also been reported.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

India on Monday reported its first confirmed case of “travel-related” Mpox, or monkeypox, in a young male who tested positive for a strain from western Africa.

The patient is in stable condition, the government has said, and is without systemic illness or comorbidities, having already been isolated over the weekend on suspicion of carrying the virus.

There is no indication of any widespread risk to the public at this time, the government said.

The government explained that testing had confirmed presence of ‘clade 2’ of the virus, and that the particular strain is “similar to 30 cases reported earlier in India, from July 2022 onwards”.

The strain of infection, however, is “not a part of the current public health emergency (declared last month by the World Health Organization), which is regarding ‘clade 1’ of the Mpox virus”.

READ | New Mpox Strain Mutating Very Rapidly. How Scientists Are Responding

A ‘clade’ refers to a biological grouping that refers to all evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor or, in this case, a particular strain of virus.

READ | India’s 1st Mpox Case? Centre Says Man Isolated, No Cause For Alarm

Earlier today the Union Health Ministry issued directives to state governments “review public health preparedness, particularly at health facility level at state and districts by senior officials”.

This should include briefing healthcare workers, “especially those working in skin/STD (sexually transmitted disease) clinics, about symptoms, differential diagnoses, and action to be taken following detection of a Mpox case”.

READ | “Prevent Undue Panic”: Centre’s Advisory To States On Mpox

But it is “crucial”, the government also said to guard against “undue panic…”

Also, to ensure information about Mpox and its common symptoms is available to the public, the government referred to the latest WHO update, which indicates that a majority of patients are men aged 18 to 44, and present with rash (systemic or genital) followed by fever.

And the most commonly reported mode of transmission, the government said, is sexual contact, followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact.

Last month the who declared Mpox a PHEIC, or Public Health Emergency of International Concern, based on the risk of spread of the current outbreak from beyond Africa, where a surge in cases has been reported from the Democratic Republic of Congo and other nations like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. There is also a new strain from the DRC, scientists said.

Five cases have been reported from Pakistan’s Peshawar, according to Geo News.

READ | Pakistan’s Peshawar Is Mpox ‘Epicentre’? Tally Reaches 5: Report

According to the WHO, so far over 120 countries have reported Mpox cases from January 2022 to August 2024. There have been over 100,000 lab-confirmed cases and around 220 deaths.

READ | Serum Institute Says Working To Develop Monkeypox Vaccine

The WHO says a vaccine can help prevent infection and can also be administered after a person has been in contact with someone who has Mpox. “In these cases, the vaccine should be given less than four days after contact (and) can be given for up to 14 days if the person has no symptoms…”

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New Delhi:

The government has issued a directive over the Mpox outbreak and suggested screening, testing, and contact tracing of all suspected patients. States have also been asked to identify hospitals to prep isolation facilities for treating suspected as well as confirmed cases.

The centre has also directed a review of public health preparedness by senior officials.

Symptoms

The most common symptom is rash (including symmetrical or genital rash), followed by fever, the government directive said citing the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO has declared the Mpox outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), but assessed the risk of the spread of the disease to be moderate beyond Africa.

Most Mpox cases are found among young men in the 18-44 years age group, the directive said. Sexual contact is the most commonly reported modes of Mpox transmission globally, followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact.

Read | “Prevent Undue Panic”: Centre’s Advisory To States On Mpox

The mpox virus was discovered in Denmark (1958) in monkeys kept for research and the first reported human case was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, 1970).

No confirmed case has been reported from India so far, but a man who recently returned from a country where confirmed cases have been reported was isolated on Sunday and his samples are being tested. His conditions is reported as stable.

Over 120 countries have reported Mpox cases between January 2022 and August 2024, according to the WHO. There have been over 100,000 lab-confirmed cases and around 220 deaths. This includes five Mpox cases in Pakistan, reports Geo News.

According to the WHO, a vaccine can help prevent the infection. It can also be administered after a person has been in contact with someone found infected with Mpox.

New Delhi:

The government on Monday recommended screening and testing of all suspected Mpox, or monkeypox patients, and isolation of confirmed cases, as well as contact tracing to “prevent and/or minimise risk of any case or death due to Mpox in the country”.

States and union territories have been urged to identify hospitals to prep isolation facilities and stand ready to receive suspected and confirmed cases, which will need increased resources.

It is “crucial”, the government also said to guard against “undue panic amongst the masses”.

To that end, the Health Ministry has recommended dissemination of guidelines on “management of monkeypox disease” and of a detailed surveillance strategy for tracking of suspected cases and contact tracing – similar to exhaustive measures at the height of the Covid pandemic.

It also offered a list of “laboratories operationalised to undertake testing, clinical management protocol, infection prevention and control practices, as well as risk communication strategies.

The ministry further called for a “review of public health preparedness, particularly at health facility level at state and districts by senior officials”.

This should include briefing healthcare workers, “especially those working in skin/STD (sexually transmitted disease) clinics, about symptoms, differential diagnoses, and action to be taken following detection of a Mpox case”.

To ensure information about Mpox and its common symptoms are widely available, the Health Ministry referred to the latest update by the World Health Organization, which indicated that a majority of monkeypox patients are men between the age of 18 and 44, and present with rash (systemic or genital) followed by fever as the most common symptoms.

Last month Mpox was declared a PHEIC, or Public Health Emergency of International Concern, by the WHO which had assessed the risk of spread of the current outbreak from beyond Africa, where a surge in cases has been reported from the Democratic Republic of Congo and also from other nations like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. There is also a new strain from the DRC, scientists said.

READ | Pakistan’s Peshawar Is Mpox ‘Epicentre’? Tally Reaches 5: Report

No confirmed case has been reported from India so far, although five have been reported from Pakistan, according to Geo News. The latest patient, a 47-year-old man, tested positive after being isolated by Border Health Services staff on August 29. He had returned from the Gulf region.

READ | India’s 1st Mpox Case? Centre Says Man Isolated, No Cause For Alarm

In India, a man who recently returned from a country where confirmed cases have been reported was isolated on Sunday and his samples are being tested. His conditions is reported as stable.

According to the WHO, so far over 120 countries have reported Mpox cases from January 2022 to August 2024. There have been over 100,000 lab-confirmed cases and around 220 deaths.

READ | Serum Institute Says Working To Develop Monkeypox Vaccine

The WHO says a vaccine can help prevent infection and can also be administered after a person has been in contact with someone who has Mpox. “In these cases, the vaccine should be given less than four days after contact (and) can be given for up to 14 days if the person has no symptoms…”

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Kinshasa:

Democratic Republic of Congo received its first batch of mpox vaccines on Thursday, which health authorities hope will help curb an outbreak that has prompted the U.N. to declare a global public health emergency.

Congo is the epicentre of the outbreak, which has spread to neighbouring countries and elsewhere, but a lack of vaccines in Africa has hampered efforts to stop the spread of the sometimes deadly disease.

A plane carrying doses manufactured by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union touched down in the capital Kinshasa around 13:00 local time (12:00 GMT), Reuters reporters at the airport said.

Congo’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, told reporters the newly arrived vaccine had already proved its worth in the United States and would be rolled out to adults in Congo.

“We know which provinces are heavily affected, notably Equateur and South Kivu… The idea is to contain the virus as quickly as possible,” he added.

This first delivery amounts to 99,000 doses and a further delivery on Saturday will take the total to 200,000 doses, said Laurent Muschel, the head of the EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).

Overall, Europe aims to deliver 566,000 doses to wherever needs are greatest in the region, Muschel told Reuters. “Based on the number of cases, the next country (for deliveries) should be Burundi, but the country’s medical agency must authorise it.”

The arrival of the vaccine in Congo should start to address a huge inequity that has left African countries with no access to the two shots used in a 2022 global mpox outbreak, while they were widely available in Europe and the United States.

Congo has said it will launch its vaccination campaign on Oct. 8 to allow time for a thorough awareness-raising campaign to overcome mistrust in some communities.

Mpox typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions, and can kill. There were 19,710 suspected cases of mpox reported in Congo in the first eight months of this year, according to the health ministry. Of those, 5,041 were confirmed and 655 were fatal.

It spreads through close contact, including sexual contact.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)