As Sweden reports 1st mpox case, EU health agency warns Europe must prepare for more infections

After Sweden reported the Europe’s first mpox infection, the European Union (EU) urged member-states to prepare for more cases — even as it maintained that the overall risk of mpox was ’low'.

The development comes within days of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the mpox outbreak in Africa as a global health emergency. In Africa, mpox virus has so far infected more than 14,000 and killed more than 500 people this year.

Following the WHO’s declaration, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that even as the overall risk for the general population in the EU and European Economic Area (EAA) remained ’low’, it “recommends that public health authorities in the EU/EEA maintain high levels of preparedness planning and awareness-raising activities to enable rapid detection and response”, according to AFP.

The ECDC said more imported cases of mpox in Europe were “very likely”.

“Due to the close links between Europe and Africa, we must be prepared for more imported clade I cases,” said ECDC Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner.

The mpox is a viral disease that causes rashes and lesions in a person. It is from the same family of viral diseases as smallpox. It spreads through close personal contact, including physical and sexual contact, with an infected person or an animal. It can also spread from bite or scratches of an infected animal or eating the meat of an infected animal.

The ongoing wave of infections and deaths is being spearheaded by a new and more dangerous strain of mpox — Clade 1b. The outbreak this year is different from that of 2022 as most of the victims are children and most of lesions are in the genital areas instead on arms and legs and are therefore difficult to spot. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that 70 per cent of cases in Congo are among children under 15 and 85 per cent of deaths are also among children, according to the Associated Press.

Beside Sweden, Pakistan has reported a case of mpox outside Africa. The WHO has already warned of more infections imported into Europe from mpox.

The ECDC has said that the likelihood of infection for people from Europe “travelling to affected areas who have close contact with affected communities is high”, according to AFP.

“Additionally, there is a moderate risk for close contacts of possible or confirmed imported cases” to Europe, said the ECDC.