Will mpox cause lockdown like Covid-19? WHO says no

Lockdowns, like the ones implemented during the peak of Covid-19, are not needed to prevent spread of mpox, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO Regional Emergency Director Abdou Salam Gueye said mpox can be controlled by ensuring surveillance, good clinical care, and access to other countermeasures, more research, and supporting communities.

“For this international coordination and commitment, both political and financial are crucial,” Gueye said during WHO’s latest Science in 5 episode.

Gueye explained that unlike the outbreak in 2022, where it was affecting mostly men who have sex with men, this time it is affecting everybody, women, men and children.

Mpox transmission, people at risk

Gueye reiterated that mpox can be transmitted in different ways, such as close contact, skin-to-skin, mouth-to-mouth, or sexual encounters.

“When a sick person is speaking very close to another person who is not sick, they may have some micro particles that are infectious,” he said.

“Another transmission way is from animal to human, during the hunting, skinning, or cooking of the animal,” he continued.

The third transmission, Gueye continued, is through contaminated objects, such as sheets, towels, and needles.

Everybody who is in contact with a sick person is at risk, particularly people at the household level or sexual partners, the WHO official explained.

“Mpox is also affecting healthcare workers that are advised to use the infection prevention and control tools, but also to use personal protective equipment, particularly when they are taking care of patients that are sick or suspected to have mpox or when they are taking a swab for diagnostic, or when they are taking care of a dead body,” he added.

Vaccines

Gueye explained that vaccines used for mpox should be used for people at risk as the quantity of vaccines currently available are very limited so they must be used “in a very smart way.”

“Evidence-based, focused and targeted. Those vaccines, if well used, can help to stop the chain of transmission,” Gueye said.

“But they are not the only way to stop the chain of transmission. If we do an appropriate surveillance with early detection of cases and we make a monitoring of the contacts of those cases, when they get sick, we isolate them very quickly and we give them appropriate treatment and also when we make sure that those who do not have any symptoms are taking very simple measures, like washing hands.”