CARPHA urges member states to be more vigilant against mpox virus

The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency has called for member states to be vigilant against the mpox virus outbreak after the World Health Organisation last week declared the virus a public health emergency of international concern.

In a statement, CARPHA, which said it has established a testing capacity for the virus with a turnaround time of 72 hours, warned that the current outbreak of mpox is caused by clade I, which is more transmissible and causes more severe illness.

It said Clade II was responsible for an outbreak that WHO declared to be a global health emergency from July 2022 to May 2023.

CARPHA's interim executive director, Dr. Lisa Indar, said the current risk to the Caribbean population from mpox clade 1b is low to moderate, as no cases of mpox have been identified in the CARPHA member states.