Europe must prepare for more mpox cases: EU health agency

The European Union health agency on Friday urged its member states to get ready for more cases of a deadly strain of mpox, a day after Sweden announced the first case outside Africa.

In a risk assessment, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said the overall risk for the general population in the EU and European Economic Area (EAA) -- 30 countries altogether -- was "low".

The ECDC said 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".

The Stockholm-based health body said more imported cases to Europe were "highly likely".

"Due to the close links between Europe and Africa, we must be prepared for more imported clade I cases," ECDC director Pamela Rendi-Wagner said in a statement.

The agency added that "ensuring effective surveillance, laboratory testing, epidemiological investigation and contact tracing capacities will be vital to detecting cases" on the continent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) this week declared the rapid spread of the new, more dangerous mpox strain, dubbed Clade 1b, a public health emergency of international concern -- the highest alarm the UN agency can sound.

The virus has swept through the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing 548 people so far this year, the country's government said.

Sweden and Pakistan have this week reported the first cases of the virus outside of Africa, with the WHO warning further imported cases of the new strain in Europe were likely.

In an updated risk assessment, the ECDC said that the "overall risk for the EU/EEA general population is currently assessed as low, based on a very low likelihood and a low impact."

In a report issued at the end of July, the agency assessed the overall risk as "very low".

However, it added in the statement that the likelihood of infection for people from Europe "travelling to affected areas who have close contact with affected communities is high."

"Additionally, there is a moderate risk for close contacts of possible or confirmed imported cases" to Europe.

The infectious disease is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by animals but can also spread human-to-human through close physical contact.

It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

The US Department of Health said Wednesday it would be donating 50,000 doses of an mpox vaccine to DRC, saying inoculation would "be a critical element of the response to this outbreak".

Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic said Friday it was seeking European approval to use its mpox vaccine in children aged 12 to 17.