MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil sets up special committee to tackle mpox crisis

“We're going to analyze issues such as vaccines,” Trinidade explained

Brazil's Health Ministry announced the creation of an emergency committee to deal with the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) decreed Wednesday by the World Health Organization given a monkeypox outbreak in Africa, Agencia Brasil reported. Health Minister Nísia Trindade explained there was no cause for alarm but it was necessary to remain alert.

Trindade said that the ministry will create an Emergency Operation Committee to adopt measures to tackle the spread of mpox. “We're going to set up an Emergency Operation Committee, involving the Ministry of Health, Anvisa [National Health Surveillance Agency], councils of municipal and state health secretaries. We've already been following the situation, we had a meeting of specialists two weeks ago since the cases started, and this possibility [of the disease spreading], and we're going to analyze issues such as vaccines. There is no cause for alarm, but for alert,” she told reporters at the Planalto Palace.

Among the measures to be adopted, according to the minister, are the acquisition of diagnostic tests, alerts for travelers and updating the contingency plan.

As for vaccines, for the time being, there are no plans for mass immunization. Last year, immunization against the disease was carried out at a time of public health emergency of international importance, using doses released by Anvisa on a provisional basis. According to the minister, these doses were also used for scientific research.

In Trinidade's view, the new wave of the disease presents a low risk for Brazil for now. In Brazil, 709 cases of mpox were reported in Brazil and 16 deaths, the most recent being in April last year. At a global scale, cases this year have already exceeded the total recorded in 2023 and amount to over 14,000, in addition to 524 deaths.

In May 2023, almost a week after changing the status of Covid-19, the WHO declared that mpox was no longer a PHEIC. In July 2022, the organization declared an emergency due to the outbreak of the disease in several countries.

Mpox is a zoonotic viral disease. Transmission to humans can occur through contact with infected wild animals, people infected with the virus, and contaminated materials. Symptoms generally include rashes or skin lesions, swollen lymph nodes (lymph nodes), fever, body aches, headache, chills, and weakness. The lesions may be flat or slightly raised, filled with clear or yellowish fluid, and may form crusts that dry and fall off. The number of lesions can vary from a few to thousands. The rash tends to be concentrated on the face, the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet, but can occur anywhere on the body, including the mouth, eyes, genitals, and anus.