Authorities play down mpox risk in Switzerland

A colorised transmission electron micrograph of mpox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue). National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases via AP

On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) triggered its highest level of global alert in response to a resurgence of mpox cases in Africa. Switzerland is less affected by the situation, officials say.

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The risk of contamination is very low in the Alpine nation, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) told the Keystone-ATS news agency on Thursday.

Most people in high-risk groups have already been vaccinated, the FOPH said. These are mainly men who have sex with men, as well as transgender people who regularly change sexual partners.

According to the FOPH, sufficient vaccines are available in Switzerland and the number of cases is stable. A large number of infections were reported for the first time in summer of 2022; but since autumn of that year, only sporadic cases have been reported.

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According to WHO data, a total of 579 cases of mpox had been recorded in Switzerland by the end of June 2024. The last report dates back to February. There have been no deaths on Swiss soil.

The international public health emergency declared by the WHO thus has no concrete consequences for the Alpine nation, the FOPH said. Switzerland is not planning any new vaccination campaigns, nor any other measures.

The main purpose of the emergency is to alert authorities around the world to prepare for possible epidemics. It shows that the WHO is aware of the danger of a new international outbreak and the health risk this could represent for several countries.

The WHO’s concern relates mainly to the new variant of mpox that appeared at the end of 2023 in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which according to specialists is more contagious than previous strains and causes a more severe infection.

Adapted from French by DeepL/dos

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