Aug. 21—SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN)-There is no need for panic buying, especially masks, as mpox is not spread through droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, said infectious disease experts.
This was after the World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Europe, Dr Hans Kluge, said at a media briefing on Aug 20 in Berlin that the mpox virus, regardless of whether it is the new or old strain, is not the new Covid-19, as the authorities know how to control its spread.
Professor Teo Yik Ying, vice-president for Global Health and dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, told The Straits Times that mpox spreads predominantly through close contact.
“This means the way we protect ourselves must also take into account the way mpox spreads. For example, mpox can spread through direct contact with the skin lesions or bodily fluids of an infected person, so avoid close contact with individuals who have symptoms,” he said.
Professor Paul Tambyah, president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, said: “Unlike other recent public health emergencies, we have highly effective vaccines that can not only prevent infection, they also prevent transmission.
“As such, if we are infected, we can notify our contacts so that they can receive post-exposure vaccination. This is a highly effective strategy and worked in controlling the outbreaks of 2022-2023 in Europe and North America, but sadly there was no access to the vaccines in Africa, which contributed to this second declaration.”
He added: “The disease has never been documented to be spread by the respiratory route, although it is thought to have contributed to one or two cases, so there is no need to return to mask wearing at all.”
WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency on Aug 14, the second time in two years.
There have been 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, largely among children, since January 2023 in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and many cases in several neighbouring countries are “very worrying”.
Reiterating Dr Tedros’ sentiments, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Aug 17 that the mpox outbreak in Africa and other places is “very worrying” as the virus is expected to spread to the Middle East and Europe, which Singapore has flight connections to.
“We should be on alert. We should expect it to arrive in Singapore, and then when it does, respond appropriately and effectively,” Mr Ong said.
Singapore has had 12 cases of mpox since January 2024, which the Ministry of Health confirmed were all from the milder form of the virus, known as clade 2.
Professor Dale Fisher, from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, said: “When we first learned of Covid-19 in Wuhan, it was clear that the virus was easily transmitted to the extent that it could overwhelm health systems without measures such as social distancing and limiting group sizes.”
“While reports are that the new clade is more transmissible and virulent than clade 2, there is no suggestion that these are anything like the degree we saw with Covid-19,” said Prof Fisher, who is also director of the NUS Centre for Infectious Disease Emergency Response.
“There is usually an epidemiological link and identification of ‘close contact’. In the massive Covid-19 outbreaks, this was not the case in most countries, where casual exposure (with unidentified sources) drove the exponential growth in case numbers. …At the current stage, we are not seeing this exponential growth in case numbers (in mpox),” he added.
The experts say there is currently no need for panic as mpox is mostly transmitted among people engaged in high-risk sexual activities.
Prof Teo said that for the public, the risk is actually very low “since we normally do not maintain close direct contact with people we do not normally know well”.
“What is perhaps relevant is for people to stay updated if one is travelling to a country where mpox is endemic and there are ongoing outbreaks. Avoid unnecessary direct contact with strangers or animals,” he added.
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