WHO, CDC Aim to Contain Mpox

On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) to stop outbreaks of human-to-human transmission of mpox through coordinated global, regional, and national efforts. This follows the declaration of a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO on Aug. 14.

The plan, which builds on the temporary recommendations and standing recommendations, focuses on implementing comprehensive surveillance, prevention, readiness, and response strategies; advancing research and equitable access to medical countermeasures like diagnostic tests and vaccines; minimizing animal-to-human transmission; and empowering communities to participate in outbreak prevention and control.

Strategic vaccination efforts will focus on individuals at the highest risk, including close contacts of recent cases and healthcare workers, to interrupt transmission chains.

“The mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring countries can be controlled, and can be stopped,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general. “Doing so requires a comprehensive and coordinated plan of action between international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and our member states. This SPRP provides that plan, based on the principles of equity, global solidarity, community empowerment, human rights, and coordination across sectors.”

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said it has been closely monitoring the spread of mpox, specifically clade I mpox, and has been working since December 2023 to prepare domestically. The risk to most Americans from clade I mpox circulating in central and eastern Africa and the travel associated cases outside of Africa is very low, and the United States has no known cases at this time.

The CDC also is prepared to detect, contain, and manage clade I cases should they occur domestically. In addition, the U.S. continues to increase capacity to detect cases of clade I and clade IIb mpox through existing surveillance systems, including wastewater testing, and through expanding the diagnostic testing capacity built during the ongoing clade IIb outbreak to ensure coverage for clade I. The ability to expedite such diagnostic testing—in particular for those with recent travel to DRC or neighboring countries—also supports rapid detection.

From August 2022 to August 2024, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), distributed more than one million vials of the JYNNEOS vaccine across the U.S. to mitigate the spread and severity of the clade II mpox outbreak. 

Since March 2024, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and CDC together have provided an additional US$20 million to support clade I mpox response efforts in central and eastern Africa, and on Aug. 20, USAID announced up to an additional US$35 million in emergency health assistance to bolster response efforts, pending Congressional Notification, bringing the proposed total U.S. government financial support for DRC and other affected countries in the region to more than $55 million. More than 200 staff including epidemiologists, laboratorians, and risk communication experts have been deployed to support response efforts in the United States and Africa. To support this effort, USAID is donating 50,000 doses of the FDA-approved JYNNEOS vaccine to DRC, as well as financial support for rollout of the vaccine doses.