Maximising the Impact of Vaccines to Interrupt Mpox Transmission

September 4, 2024

Maximising the Impact of Vaccines to Interrupt Mpox

Maximising the impact of vaccines to interrupt Mpox transmission

The recent upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa has led to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).

Data presented to an IHR emergency committee showed the virus has the potential to spread further across countries in Africa, and possibly outside of the continent. As a result, border regions in countries neighbouring DRC have raised alert levels and screening measures.

The WHO is expected to deploy the first batch of vaccines, but it is unclear when, and the initial availability will need to be carefully planned.  The WHO, in their August 2024 global strategic preparedness and response plan (SPRP), outlines 3 phases for the vaccination strategy.  First of all, the aim is to interrupt transmission using a targeted approach to ensure that fewer vaccine doses and resources are needed, then reduce transmission and break the infection pathways. This will be underpinned by strong surveillance data that the near-patient rapid diagnostics will provide

How it Works

Several Lateral Flow test types will help in the surveillance and detection of mpox.  Antigen tests that detect the virus itself will help medical teams to identify the existence of the virus in an active infection.  Antibody tests, if they can be made accurate enough, will help the serosurveillance, guide the WHO’s Phase I patient vaccination program, and monitor the true spread of the disease in a population.  An article just published in the Lancet (Jones et al., Lancet Infect. Dis, September 2nd 2024) raised doubts on the use of existing antibody lateral flow devices for mpox surveillance on convalescent patients.

 

“Diagnostic surveillance is key to strategic vaccination”

 – Matt Pearce, Founder/Director, Medtechtomarket

 

Lateral Flow Capabilities

Lateral flow technologies (like the COVID tests we are all now familiar with) can quickly and cost-effectively be manufactured in large quantities. In the case of mpox, the diagnostic tests used could be a simple finger-prick or lesion test (in live infections) to immediately detect the presence of the mpox virus or evidence of past infection/immunity.  These will ultimately be used to track the outbreak, and prioritise which communities can be targeted for initial vaccination to break the transmission.

Medtechtomarket delivers rapid prototypes, proof of principle experiments, and fully functional immunochemistry tests within a short time-frame, meaning we are at the forefront of the frontline battle against mpox.