Mpox Variant Sparks Global Concern As Europe, China Ramp Up Screening

Authorities in Europe and China are expediting screening for a deadly new version of mpox that has spread across regions of Africa and has been found in Europe.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Friday raised its risk assessment for mpox and forecasted more imported cases after a new strain called clade I was confirmed in Sweden, Axios reported.

Pakistan’s health ministry reported Friday that it identified an mpox case and was conducting sequencing to determine if it is the new strain.

China’s customs administration said it would look for signs of mpox in people and goods entering the country over the next six months, the state-run, English-speaking news TV channel CTGN reported.

According to the CDC, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s ongoing mpox outbreak, driven by the more transmissible and severe Clade I virus, involves multiple transmission modes, including household and sexual exposures, with 70% of cases in children under 15.

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More than 16,000 new cases and 511 deaths have been reported in Africa this year, and nine countries have reported confirmed new cases of mpox in recent weeks.

The World Health Organization last week declared mpox a global health emergency, acknowledging that it would likely spread across Africa and outside the continent. The organization is working with countries and drugmakers on vaccine donations.

Clade I is different from the less severe Clade II strain of mpox that caused the global outbreak in 2022, but they both share similar flu-like symptoms and produce a rash that at first resembles pimples or blisters.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told doctors to watch out for the new mpox strain, but it also said that the risk to the public is very low.

Two vaccines — Jynneos, made by Bavarian Nordic (OTC:BVNRY) and LC16, from KM Biologics — have received emergency authorizations. Bavarian Nordic has asked the European Union’s drug regulator to expand Jynneos’ use to 12- to 17-year-olds, an age group especially at risk from clade 1.

A National Institutes of Health study showed the smallpox antiviral drug tecovirimat, which is made by SIGA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGA) did not lower the duration of mpox lesions among children and adults with Clade I mpox in the DRC.

Price Action: Shares of Bavarian Nordic were down 1.79% to $13.70 as SIGA declined 0.29% to $10.46 at the time of publication Monday, while most of the exchange-traded funds that cover the segment gained.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.