Mpox outbreak in the Netherlands, 2022: public health response, characteristics of the first 1,000 cases and protection of the first-generation smallpox vaccine
Open Access
- 23 March 2023
- journal article
- research article
- Published by European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) in Eurosurveillance
- Vol. 28 (12), 2200772
- https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.es.2023.28.12.2200772
Abstract
In early May 2022, a global outbreak of mpox started among persons without travel history to regions known to be enzootic for monkeypox virus (MPXV). On 8 August 2022, the Netherlands reported its 1,000th mpox case, representing a cumulative incidence of 55 per million population, one of the highest cumulative incidences worldwide. We describe characteristics of the first 1,000 mpox cases in the Netherlands, reported between 20 May and 8 August 2022, within the context of the public health response. These cases were predominantly men who have sex with men aged 31–45 years. The vast majority of infections were acquired through sexual contact with casual partners in private or recreational settings including LGBTQIA+ venues in the Netherlands. This indicates that, although some larger upsurges occurred from point-source and/or travel-related events, the outbreak was mainly characterised by sustained transmission within the Netherlands. In addition, we estimated the protective effect of first-generation smallpox vaccine against moderate/severe mpox and found a vaccine effectiveness of 58% (95% CI: 17–78%), suggesting moderate protection against moderate/severe mpox symptoms on top of any possible protection by this vaccine against MPXV infection and disease. Communication with and supporting the at-risk population in following mitigation measures remains essential.Keywords
This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- A shift from travel-associated cases to autochthonous transmission with Berlin as epicentre of the monkeypox outbreak in Germany, May to June 2022Eurosurveillance, 2022
- Ongoing monkeypox virus outbreak, Portugal, 29 April to 23 May 2022Eurosurveillance, 2022
- Community transmission of monkeypox in the United Kingdom, April to May 2022Eurosurveillance, 2022
- Clinical features and management of human monkeypox: a retrospective observational study in the UKThe Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2022
- Phase 3 Efficacy Trial of Modified Vaccinia Ankara as a Vaccine against SmallpoxThe New England Journal of Medicine, 2019
- Nowcasting the Number of New Symptomatic Cases During Infectious Disease Outbreaks Using Constrained P-spline SmoothingEpidemiology, 2019
- Species-specific differentiation of variola, monkeypox, and varicella-zoster viruses by multiplex real-time PCR assayJournal of Virological Methods, 2016
- Real-time PCR assays for the specific detection of monkeypox virus West African and Congo Basin strain DNAJournal of Virological Methods, 2010
- Multicolour, multiplex real-time PCR assay for the detection of human-pathogenic poxvirusesMolecular and Cellular Probes, 2010
- Human monkeypox: secondary attack rates.1988