Mpox virus ‘doesn’t spread the same way’ as COVID-19: WHO

GENEVA

The contact-transmitted mpox virus is not the same as the airborne COVID-19 virus, and they do not “spread the same way,” a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday.

Maria Van Kerkhove, director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention of WHO, and Otim Patrick Ramadan, team leader of the Acute Events Management of WHO Regional Office for Africa, spoke about mpox virus during an online program they held on X.

“We're not seeing the same situation unfold,” Kerkhoveaid said, referring to the course of coronavirus.

“Anyone can get mpox if you're in contact with an infected individual,” she highlighted. “But it doesn't mean everyone will get infected with mpox.”

The rapid and efficient transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through the air, leading to the swift global spread of COVID-19, highlights a significant distinction in how this virus operates compared to others, she stressed.

“There's so much that we can do with the right information, with interrupting transmission in different ways,” she stated.

Mpox is a viral disease that can spread through close contact as well as through contaminated materials like sheets, clothing and needles, according to WHO.

- 13 countries with mpox

Ramadan pointed out that “mpox can affect anybody.”

“We are seeing transmission at household level affecting children, but we are also seeing adults who are affected as well,” he stressed.

“Now, currently in the African region, we have active outbreak in 13 countries, and then in these 13 countries, we are seeing a wide range of people being affected,” the official said.

Noting that 30% of the cases in Burundi and neighboring the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak is widespread, are seen under the age of 18, he said: "This is worrying."

He emphasized that vaccination is an additional public health mean to contain mpox virus, lamenting that the proper amount of vaccines cannot be reached in Africa.

Recalling that WHO currently recommends the use of MVA-BN and LC16 vaccines against mpox, Ramadan pointed out the importance of “targeted vaccination” of those at risk and high risk of transmission.

Last week, the WHO and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared mpox a public health emergency of international and continental concern.

According to the latest Africa CDC figures, as many as 17, 541 mpox cases and 517 deaths have so far been reported from 13 African countries.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of the current outbreak, accounts for 96% of all cases and 97% of all deaths reported in 2024.

Congo has recorded 16,700 confirmed or suspected cases of mpox, including more than 570 deaths.

South Africa recorded 24 confirmed cases, including three deaths, and Cameroon five confirmed cases, including two deaths. Burundi has over 100 cases, while Nigeria has 39, Liberia has five, Rwanda has four, Ivory Coast and Uganda have two each, and Kenya has one confirmed case.

*Writing by Merve Berker in Ankara