How contagious is MPOX? Why scientists are calling this strain “worrying” – National

Mpox Global Public Health Emergency Immunologists say more research is needed to determine how contagious it is, but cases are being reported across the community, and the virus is affecting children as well as adults.

Known as lineage 1b mpoxThe virus has spread across Africa since it was first detected in the Kamitsuga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a case was reported in Sweden last week in a person who had travelled to an affected African country, marking the first diagnosis outside the continent.

“The virus is a very different virus than the human virus,” said David Kelvin, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Dalhousie University and one of the study's lead researchers. Studying the Kamitsuga mpox strain, He told Global News he was “worried” about who would be affected compared to 2022.

“Lineage 2b started in a very restricted social group and moved through that social group,” he said, “whereas this lineage 1 is not restricted to a single social group and has spread throughout the community.”

Clade 2b is the strain that caused a public health emergency in 2022, and at the time it disproportionately affected gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) aged 18-49, raising concerns that it could stigmatize the LGBTQ2 community.

Kelvin said early studies had found some cases linked to heterosexual contact, but since its discovery last year, there have also been a large number of cases in children.

Dr. Dong Vinh, an infectious disease specialist at McGill University Health Centre, told Global News that, as in 2022, caution is needed when classifying this latest form of MPOX.

“It would be completely wrong to say that the 2022 epidemic is a gay disease, but by the same logic you would say that the lineage 1b epidemic must be a heterosexual disease, which of course is equally wrong,” Vinh said.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, there is evidence that lineage I (of which lineage 1b is a variant) may be more contagious and cause more severe illness than lineage 2. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some outbreaks have killed nearly 10% of people, but the death rate has decreased in recent outbreaks.

Earlier this year, there were around six cases in the town of Bukavu, near Kamituga; now the number has risen to around 4,000.

Get weekly health news

Get the latest medical news and health information every Sunday.

The primary route of infection for mpox is through close contact with an infected person, usually skin-to-skin contact and the rash or scabs caused by the virus. This includes sexual contact, but close contact kissing and other social activities can also spread the virus.

Kelvin told Global News that one of the reported cases was of a hairdresser who was infected and spread the virus through close contact with a customer while cutting their hair.

2:07
Health issue: Experts say Mpox variants could make their way into Canada

There are also concerns about close contact with children as schools can be relatively crowded, including in parts of Africa where the virus is widespread.

“Children who are in close contact are going to touch each other, spread saliva and things like that,” he said.

The virus can also spread through respiratory secretions such as saliva, nasal discharge, and mucus, bodily fluids, and contact with lesions around the genitals. The CDC also notes that MPOX can also spread during prolonged face-to-face interactions, such as talking or breathing at close range, but this is through respiratory droplets, not airborne transmission.

5:37
Mpox declares global health emergency, doctors warn

Vinh said sexual contact may be a factor in the spread of the disease, but household contact is also possible, and there may also be cases of animal-to-human transmission. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines MPOX as a zoonotic disease.

“So it's the combination of sexual networks, non-sexual close contact networks and even possible animal contact that has us scratching our heads as to what the main source of transmission is,” he said.

Dr. Don Shepherd, deputy director of PHAC's infectious diseases and vaccination programs, told Global News that lineage 1 is often caused by zoonotic infections like this one, which means it has the potential for some spread in the community.

“It is often transmitted within households, and children are the most affected because it is very easy to spread through household contact,” he said. “The demographics in Congo are very different to here, there are more young people compared to older people, so children tend to get infected.”

He added that the spread of the lineage 1b variant to several African countries, and now to Sweden, similar to variants identified during the COVID-19 pandemic, may indicate that the variant has “better spreading abilities” and may be more infectious.

Vinh also said people should be careful about indirect contact, as it can spread to others if surfaces that have come into contact with an infected person are not properly disinfected.

As of Aug. 19, no clade 1 or clade 1b variants have been detected in Canada, but there are still precautions people can take.

First, if you decide to travel to affected areas of Africa where MPOX is prevalent, avoid crowded places and take appropriate public health measures such as washing your hands.

If you're not planning on traveling, the risk of infection is low, Vinh and Kelvin noted, but both said people who are eligible for the MPOX vaccine should get it.

Kelvin said people who are at higher risk due to immunosuppression or comorbidities are also encouraged to get vaccinated.

But Kelvin added that although there are indications that the strain and its variant MPOX may be more transmissible and therefore more infectious, action is still needed.

“A lot of research still needs to be done to address this issue,” Kelvin said, “and given the alarming nature of rapid spread within one geographic location and then migration to other geographic locations, we will need to be vigilant about cases suddenly popping up.”

— With files from Ella McDonald and Katie Dangerfield for Global News