Post Reply - On M-pox

   https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/the-pandemic-discussion-forum/949085-discussion-thoughts-on-a-global-outbreak-of-monkeypox?view=stream  or https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/the-pandemic-discussion-forum/949085-discussion-thoughts-on-a-global-outbreak-of-monkeypox?view=stream ;
Mpox in the DRC: residents of a Kinshasa shanty town on the front line

Published: February 4, 2025 7:29am EST

Author
Yap Boom
Professor in the faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology
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MPOX is historically a rural disease in the DRC. This microcosm of Kinshasa highlights the complex challenges of managing the epidemic in a city.

Fighting on two fronts

With a population of over 17 million, Kinshasa is Africa's largest megacity . Pakadjuma is one of the city's many overcrowded neighborhoods where people live in extreme poverty.

Kinshasa, often called “Kin the Beautiful,” is facing a unique crisis in the fight against MPOX. Both strains of the virus, clade Ia and clade Ib, are circulating simultaneously in the city. This is the first time this has happened.

Clade Ia , which is transmitted primarily from animals to humans and then within households through touch, has been endemic in Africa for decades.

Clade Ib is a new strain that is primarily contracted through sexual contact. This is the strain that has spread rapidly across 21 African countries during the current outbreak in East and Central Africa.

This dual transmission makes the fight against MPOX even more complicated: how do we tackle a public health crisis rooted both in intimate human relationships and in structural inequalities such as living in crowded areas?

Although the strains are treated clinically similarly, their spread and transmission differ.

Clade Ia is primarily associated with zoonotic (animal-to-human) transmission in rural areas. Animal surveillance and community education are needed to control spillovers.

Clade Ib, which has higher human-to-human transmissibility, requires intensified contact tracing, vaccination and preventive measures in urban and peri-urban areas.

Adapting strategies to these differences is essential to contain the epidemic.
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The fight on all fronts

The fight against the MPOX epidemic in Kinshasa requires a multifaceted approach:

Vaccination: Widespread vaccination campaigns offer the best hope for controlling the outbreak in hotspots such as Pakadjuma, where contact tracing is nearly impossible. In these cases, the entire community must be vaccinated.

This could break chains of transmission while allowing those at risk, such as sex workers, to continue to work.
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https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/02/ukhsa-9th-confirmed-mpox-clade-ib-case.html or https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/02/ukhsa-9th-confirmed-mpox-clade-ib-case.html ;
The UKHSA has announced their 4th imported clade Ib Mpox case since January 20th, while at the same time announcing that they will only report cases on a weekly basis going forward. 
Details on cases have grown increasingly scant in recent weeks, with this latest case simply described as: A ninth case was reported on 4 February 2025, also with a travel history to Uganda.

DJ, Are we slowly moving into an Mpox-pandemic ? (And WHO decides on that ?)