Studies suggest that a new lineage of the mpox virus discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) in September last year is more efficient at human-to-human transmission, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, urging high-risk groups to get fully vaccinated for better protection.
Surveillance data from the WHO and other countries showed that mpox continues to spread globally, the centers said.
Clade I mpox is endemic to Central Africa, while Clade II, from West Africa, causes infections that are less severe, and has two subclades — Clade IIa and Clade IIb, the latter of which caused a global outbreak that started in 2022 and was found in local cases in Taiwan, the CDC said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Clade I mpox causes more severe illness and deaths, it said, adding that the DR Congo has reported more than 19,000 suspected mpox cases and more than 900 deaths since January last year.
CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said a study by an international group of researchers published last month identified a new and distinct lineage of Clade I — Clade Ib, which emerged in September last year and appears to be better at spreading between people.
A WHO report published in November last year says that human-to-human transmission of mpox through close contact has been reported in the DR Congo since the 1970s, presumed to be primarily due to zoonotic transmission.
However, as the dynamics of Clade I mpox transmission in the DR Congo over the past few years are not well understood, the new features of sexual and unknown modes of transmission among people have raised additional concerns over the continuing rapid expansion of the outbreak in the country, the report said.
Clade I mpox has not yet been detected in Taiwan, but infection risks are possible with frequent international travel, so getting vaccinated is the best method to prevent the virus, the CDC said.
Studies suggest that the infection risk among unvaccinated people is about twice that of those who have received a dose of a vaccine, and five times that of those who are fully vaccinated with two shots, Tseng said.
The CDC urges eligible recipients of the mpox vaccine, including those who have engaged in risky sexual practices — having more than one sexual partner, or sex at a commercial sex venue or with sex workers — in the past year; those who have had sexually transmitted diseases; or those who have had sexual or intimate contact with a person who is engaged in high-risk sexual activities, to get fully vaccinated.
A total of 77,981 people in Taiwan have been vaccinated against mpox, as of Wednesday last week, but only 50,740 people are fully vaccinated with two doses, so it urges people to complete their vaccination for better protection, the centers said.
Since the CDC listed mpox as a category 2 notifiable communicable disease on June 23, 2022, a total of 367 cases (346 local and 21 imported cases) had been reported, as of Sunday, the centers said.
Eight of those cases were reported this year, including six local and two imported cases, it said, adding that risk of local infections remains.
Additional reporting by CNA
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS