The World Health Organization, WHO, has declared a global health emergency due to the outbreak of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox.
– This is serious. WHO does not go out with this without reason, says vaccine researcher Matti Sällberg.
The virus has broken out in several African countries and Congo-Kinshasa has been particularly vulnerable.
Is there a vaccine
The current variant of the virus, clade 1, is feared to be more contagious than the previous variant, clade 2, which also spread in Sweden in 2022.
– There are vaccines that are great, but of all the young people, hardly anyone is vaccinated, says Matti Sällberg.
Is there a risk of a new pandemic?
– I wouldn’t think this will have the same impact, but viruses are sneaky and can change in ways we don’t understand yet. But I don’t think it will be anything like covid.
According to Sällberg, there is currently no direct cause for concern in Europe and Sweden.
– As long as you get the production of this vaccine started, we will be able to handle this in a better way.
“There will be cases here”
But the risk of mpox reaching Sweden is high.
– We live in a global society where you travel around the world in 72 hours. So there is no doubt that cases will appear here as well. I am convinced of that. It’s just a matter of keeping it as limited as possible and identifying the cases that appear as quickly as possible, he says and continues:
– The Public Health Agency has very good monitoring of this at the moment and follows very closely what the WHO says and the spread in Africa. Because it will affect if there is a global spread as well.