Friday, August 16, 2024

WHO Declares Second Mpox Emergency In Under Three Years -- With Congo The Epicenter, But Now A Case Confirmed In Sweden...


This is discouraging, even as it seems the few suspected cases of Ebola in Bas-Uélé, DRC have turned up negative for that far more lethal virus.

Even so, the Ib clade of Mpox runs at about a 10 percent fatality rate in sub-Saharan Africa. No word yet -- on the prognosis for the case in Sweden -- but it is reported to be of the more contagious variety. So WHO has declared an emergency -- to arrest it all, before it leaps to additional continents, as Ebola did in 2022 -- reaching both Israel, and Pakistan. Here's the latest:

. . .Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close contact. It's classified into two distinct viral groups, called clades: clade I and clade II.

The strain that spread widely in 2022 and prompted the WHO's first public health emergency declaration was a version of clade II. The current outbreak, however, is a version of clade I, which is "likely to be associated with a higher risk of a more severe course of disease and higher mortality," according to the Public Health Agency of Sweden. . . .

The version of clade I responsible for the outbreak in Congo also appears to be fairly transmissible via routine close contact, such as between members of a household. That's a notable difference from the clade II strain, which was transmitted primarily via sexual contact among men who have sex with men during the outbreak two years ago. . . .


It is increasingly true now, that with post jet age travel, we are all our brothers' and sisters' keepers -- in a single global biome. We need to realize that global human health -- and pandemic abatement -- is a global imperative. Onward.

नमस्ते

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