According to infectious disease experts (1), the new clade 1b strain of ampox (formerly known as monkeypox) is of concern as it can spread easily between individuals through physical contact and may result in increased mortality, including among young people.
The new strain, now restricted to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in central Africa, is different from the ampox clade 2B that caused a global outbreak in 2022, with 94,707 confirmed cases in 107 countries.
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New strain of monkeypox is more deadly
“Such endemic events have been occurring in the DRC for a long time. The ampox clade 1, which is more lethal and specific, has existed for decades. But now it has become more infectious due to the new variant, i.e. clade 1B,” said infectious disease specialist Dr Ishwar Gilada.
“Unlike clade 1, the new strain clade 1B, which is projected to spread to humans around September 2023, has a very high mortality rate and is not restricted to men who have sex with men (MSM),” said Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chair of the Indian Medical Association's national Covid-19 task force.
According to academics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, clade 1B has a mortality rate of 5% in adults and 10% in children. They said the new clade could harm men and women who have not had sex, as well as babies, and could cause miscarriages and stillbirths.
“The new variant of ampox is a matter of concern because it may transmit more easily between people than the earlier variant,” said Gautam Menon, dean of research and professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University.
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Discrepancies in mortality rates due to ampox
Meanwhile, the Africa CDC reported a 6.7% overall mortality rate among 4,488 suspected ampox cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2024. 70% of the cases and 88% of the total deaths occurred in young people under the age of fifteen. Dr. Rajeev said it is unclear whether all these cases were caused by the new clade 1B strain or the original clade 1 strain.
Dr Rajeev said, “It is difficult to estimate the actual mortality rate as not every case will be reported or documented. Another problem with the Clade 1 variant of mpox is that it can be confused with chickenpox, which is a common virus. Recent research on doctors found it difficult to differentiate between the two just by looking at the lesions. Thus, there may be discrepancies in the number of reported cases.”
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Do we need travel restrictions to stop the spread of monkeypox?
There are no indications that this new Clade 1B strain has spread to other countries.
However, “if global travel spreads this new strain to other parts of the world, person-to-person transmission may occur through sexual or physical contact or both. If this happens, the distribution pattern will be different from the 2022 outbreak, which did not particularly affect women and children,” Dr Rajeev said. “Until such data is available, there is no clear risk to India at this time,” Mr Singh said.
Dr Eashwar, who is also the secretary general of the Public Health Organisation of India, has advocated greater caution when it comes to whole genome sequencing.
“There should be some kind of guidelines. There has been no case of ampox in India yet but we should be careful and keep an eye on the global situation,” he said.
Noting that vaccines are available for Mpox, Dr Gautam said the virus “mutates more slowly than the virus that causes COVID-19, and it still appears to be relatively difficult to transmit. We should be cautious at this time, but there is no need for more stringent precautions.”
Reference:
- New ampox clade 1B of concern, can spread through physical contact, may increase mortality rate (https://in.investing.com/news/general-news/new-mpox-clade-1b-worrying-can-spread-via-physical-contact-raise-mortality-rate-4284340)
Source-MedIndia
