MPOX VIRUS IN KENYA, WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS

August 19, 2024 27 1

The World Health Organization has declared MPOX, formerly known as Monkeypox, a global health emergency. Kenya confirmed its first case of monkeypox in late July 2024. The patient was detected at the Taita Taveta border point with Tanzania. This individual was traveling from Uganda to Rwanda through Kenya, and the Ministry of Health has issued advisories for vigilance and preventive measures to mitigate further spread.

Monkeypox, caused by the monkeypox virus, presents with symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and exhaustion. A distinctive rash often appears 1-3 days after the onset of fever, progressing through different stages . The virus spreads through direct contact with infectious lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets during prolonged face-to-face contact, and contaminated materials like bedding.

The illness typically lasts 2 to 4 weeks, and most cases are mild, though it can be severe or even fatal in some cases. Public health measures such as frequent hand washing and avoiding close contact with infected individuals are recommended to reduce the risk of transmission.

INTERNATIONAL CASES

Internationally, the ECOWAS Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control has reported a continuing outbreak of monkeypox in West Africa , with 44 confirmed cases and one death recorded by the end of Epidemiological Week 33 in 2024. Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Ghana are currently the most affected countries within the ECOWAS area.

Mpox has been reported in the DRC for more than a decade, and the number of cases reported each year has increased steadily over that period. Last year, reported cases increased significantly, and already the number of cases reported so far this year has exceeded last year’s total, with more than 15 600 cases and 537 deaths.

The emergence last year and rapid spread of a new virus strain in DRC, clade 1b, which appears to be spreading mainly through sexual networks, and its detection in countries neighbouring the DRC is especially concerning, and one of the main reasons for the declaration of the PHEIC.

In the past month, over 100 laboratory-confirmed cases of clade 1b have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported mpox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Experts believe the true number of cases to be higher as a large proportion of clinically compatible cases have not been tested.

VACCINATION

As of August 2024, there is only one vaccine approved for use against mpox across all of the EU/EEA, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland and Canada.This is the MVA-BN vaccine, also known as Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic.The vaccine consists of a weakened strain of the vaccinia virus — one of the viruses from the Orthopoxvirus genus, which the monkeypox virus belongs to.Its current form, MVA-BN, was developed by the Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic and has been in production since 2010. It is given in two doses, usually 28 days apart.

The World Health Organization lists another two vaccines approved by different regulatory agencies for the prevention of mpox.

During the 2022 mpox outbreak, Japan approved the smallpox vaccine LC16, and Russia licensed Orthopox Vac for immunization against smallpox, mpox and other orthopoxviruses.

In the United States and Australia, ACAM2000, a vaccine which contains a live vaccinia virus, is recommended for people at risk for exposure to Orthopoxvirus infections.

source: WHO, Nigerian tribune, deutsche welle

COMPILED BY

ELIZABETH MAINA