SPAIN is about to ramp up its border controls in a bid to prevent cases of a mutant mpox strain – amid fears of an explosion of cases in Europe.
It comes as Thailand detected its first suspected infection in a European traveller who had recently been to Africa.
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Some countries in Asia, including South Korea, China and Pakistan, are taking similar preemptive actions in a bid to stop a national pandemic, according to local reports.
This stands in contrast to the UK where health officials are yet to tighten border health controls.
The rapid spread of the new mpox strain – known as clade 1b – in Africa prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a public health emergency earlier this month.
At the time, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is “of great concern”.
“Stopping these outbreaks will require a tailored (situation-specific) and comprehensive response, with communities at the centre,” he added.
Experts have also previously told the Sun the disease could easily spread via international travel.
Madrid’s health and environment officials have called on the Government to reinforce controls at Barajas – Madrid’s main airport.
This could include health screening and/or closely monitoring arrivals from African states that have been hit hardest and those travellers who have been in contact with infectious people.
Carlos Novillo, Madrid’s head of the environment demanded that the Ministry of Health “take preventive measures, especially in Barajas, an important airport that registers a large flow of travellers daily instead of just being reactive”.
The Ministry of Health is set to convene with officials from other health agencies next Monday to address the escalating crisis, Europa Press reports.
The highly contagious disease has killed at least 500 people and infected 17,000 during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The virus – formally known as monkeypox – has now spread to at least 13 other countries in Africa, and scientists are concerned about how fast a new variant of the disease is spreading and its high fatality rate.
Mpox is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, or skin-to-skin contact with another person.
The clade 1b virus that is currently on the loose is different from the clade 2 version which triggered a public health emergency in 2022.
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It’s believed to be more contagious and some animal studies have suggested it could be more deadly.
Thailand has detected an mpox case in a European man who arrived from Africa last week and is awaiting test results to determine the strain.
The first clade 1b case to be detected in Europe was spotted in Sweden last week.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, previously told The Sun he would “bet on” cases emerging in the coming fortnight as the disease develops and people with symptoms seek medical treatment.
It is quite possible people with the infection and who are infectious could get on a flight and transmit this elsewhere
Prof Trudie Lang
Since a case was reported in Sweden, the NHS has put itself on high alert for cases in the UK.
However, no updated advice for travellers at airports has yet been issued, nor has the vaccine effort been ramped up.
“Pathogens don’t recognise borders,” Ben Oppenheim, a global health expert and senior director of US company Ginkgo Biosecurity, previously told the Sun.
Should we be worried?
Dr Jonas Albarnaz, a research fellow specialising in pox viruses at The Pirbright Institute, said:
“This news of a case of clade 1 mpox in Sweden is concerning for two main reasons.
“First, this is the first clade 1 mpox virus case outside Africa. This indicates that the extent of the international spread of clade 1 outbreak in DRC might be larger than we knew yesterday.
“And second, clade 1 mpox virus is associated with a more severe disease and higher mortality rates than the clade 2 virus responsible for the international mpox outbreak in 2022.
“This is hard to predict whether we will see further cases of clade 1 mpox outside of Africa, but this case in Sweden is a warning call for public health authorities to be vigilant and implement robust surveillance and contact-tracing strategies to detect possible new cases early on.
“It’s also critical to determine what is the link between this clade 1 mpox virus detected in Sweden and the ongoing outbreak in DRC.”
Trudie Lang, professor of global health research at Oxford University, added: “It is quite possible people with the infection and who are infectious could get on a flight and transmit this elsewhere.
WHAT IS THE UK DOING?
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has advised those intending to travel to an affected area to seek health advice from their GP.
“Those travelling to areas affected by the ongoing outbreak should take sensible precautions to protect themselves from the risk of infection,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, director of Public Health Programmes at UKHSA told the Sun.
“Currently the risk to most travellers is small, and vaccination against mpox infection is not recommended for the majority of people.”
The NHS offers the smallpox (MVA) vaccine to people who are most likely to be exposed to mpox.
This includes healthcare workers looking after patients with suspected or confirmed mpox, men who sleep with men and people who have been in close contact with a suspected case.
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I mistook monkeypox for Covid – I’ve never been in so much pain
A MAN who caught mpox in 2022 first believed he had Covid before experiencing agonising symptoms that made him fear for his life.
Harun Tulunay, a 35-year-old charity worker, experienced extreme symptoms which left him hospitalised for almost two weeks.
Harun, who lives in London, first started to display flu-like symptoms back in early June 2022, such as high fever, chills and muscle aches.
After having recently caught Covid he was “convinced” he had had the virus again, he told The Sun. “But every test I did came back negative.”
A few days later, the charity worker developed a red and white rash on his body that resembled an allergic reaction, which he said was “nothing like the monkeypox pictures you see online”.
It wasn’t until a few days later that he also noticed a painless spot on his nose which he assumed was a mosquito-like bite or pimple.
Harun works in sexual health so is well versed in monkeypox and its symptoms, but he had never seen his rash or spot associated with the disease and so didn’t think he could have it.
A few days later, Harun’s health took a turn for the worse as his fever reached 40C. “No amount of painkillers would ease the pain,” he said.
It was at this point that Harun developed swollen tonsils and a very sore throat.
“I couldn’t breathe, swallow or speak,” he said.
“I vividly remember calling up the hospital and crying in pain.”
Harun was finally referred to the hospital where he was put into isolation.
His test confirmed he had monkeypox, and only then did lesions often associated with monkeypox begin to appear on his hands, legs, and feet.
“My throat was covered,” he said, explaining that the lesion on his nose was bigger and had become infected.
“I was scared I would die alone in my hospital room,” he said. “I’d never been in so much pain in my life.”
“I remember looking at a water bottle and crying because I couldn’t drink it,” he added.
Harun has now made a full recovery
