Between October 2024 and January 2025, the UK identified eight cases of Clade Ib Monkeypox virus (MPXV), with seven patients admitted to high consequence infectious disease (HCID) centres. A comprehensive environmental sampling study was conducted to assess the extent of MPXV contamination in isolation rooms and anterooms, focusing on both air and surface samples.
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Mpox clade Ib: the next pandemic?
The Mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues, with the latest estimates suggesting that there have been >25,000 cases and >700 deaths since the beginning of 2023. There have been three cases of confirmed Clade Ib Mpox reported in the UK in the past week. I posted recently with some background info on the epi of Mpox. Today’s post is based on an epi modelling study exploring key epidemiological parameters of Clade I Mpox based on historical data to inform our understanding of the Clade Ib outbreak: the incubation period, serial interval, generation interval, and reproduction number. There will be an IPC Partners Journal Club on this study next week on Weds 13th November (register here).
Continue readingMpox: situation overview and IPC implications
I gave an mpox webinar yesterday, to focus on the new threat from the Clade Ib outbreak of mpox currently going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has prompted the WHO to declare a public health emergency of international concern.
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Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 