05:11Infectious diseases expert Dr Subramanian Swaminathan admitted that people were 'scared' about the threat from mpox, adding that it could go around the world in just 48 hours, speaking from Chennai on Monday.
"People are scared. People are worried. Information and technology being what it is, good news travels slowly, bad news flies," he said. "And it's true [quite literally for mpox too] because with air travel being what it is, everything [like diseases] can get to any corner of the world within 48 hours max, probably less. So with that being said, obviously people are worried."
It came as the country's health ministry told airports and land ports to be on 'high alert' for passengers showing symptoms of the disease - although no cases had been confirmed in India at time of publication.
"I'm hopeful that the government will come up with a plan within the next 48 hours about what needs to be done, especially given the threat that we are seeing from the neighbourhood in terms of cases," he said.
"This is not something that mutates very quickly," the doctor continued. "We have a window of opportunity to control the disease even by non medical methods like quarantine and whatnot, and therefore we should be able to get on top of it."
The 2022 global outbreak was caused by the Clade II type, with a mortality rate of less than one percent. The current Clade I type, endemic to central Africa, can be more fatal.
"The current outbreak that we are talking about is the Clade I which is a little scarily more lethal meaning adults they are talking up to 5 percent risk of death but even more worrisome is the fact that this current outbreak is a little bit of a novel clade, they have classified it as 1b so it's obviously an offshoot of the clade one and we need to know more about it," he added.
He also said that a 'slowly transmissible' disease which did not kill the majority of people would 'self sustain', meaning it would continue to circulate and infect more people.
Clade 1b led to the WHO declaring 'public health emergency of international concern'. Previously, the category was used for Ebola outbreaks, Covid-19 and the 2022 Mpox surge.
Dr Swaminathan also called for more training for medics around the globe to spot Mpox, and said that a vaccine for the strain could take up to six months.
"If there are countries which have very high levels of transmission, they will need the vaccine. Countries which are at an earlier stage may be able to control it with this quarantine and isolation, and they may not need a vaccine," he said.
On other treatments, he added that the potential was difficult to assess due to the lack of patients to test at the initial stage and the risk of harm from unproven therapies.
According to reports, there have been 15,000 cases of Mpox and over 500 deaths recorded in Africa this year, mostly in the DRC but also in 13 other countries. Sweden confirmed a case of the Clade 1 - the first outside Africa - last week, while Pakistan found one case of the Clade II type.
'People are scared - Mpox could get around the world in 48 hours' - Indian expert as airports, borders on 'high alert'
Infectious diseases expert Dr Subramanian Swaminathan admitted that people were 'scared' about the threat from mpox, adding that it could go around the world in just 48 hours, speaking from Chennai on Monday.
"People are scared. People are worried. Information and technology being what it is, good news travels slowly, bad news flies," he said. "And it's true [quite literally for mpox too] because with air travel being what it is, everything [like diseases] can get to any corner of the world within 48 hours max, probably less. So with that being said, obviously people are worried."
It came as the country's health ministry told airports and land ports to be on 'high alert' for passengers showing symptoms of the disease - although no cases had been confirmed in India at time of publication.
"I'm hopeful that the government will come up with a plan within the next 48 hours about what needs to be done, especially given the threat that we are seeing from the neighbourhood in terms of cases," he said.
"This is not something that mutates very quickly," the doctor continued. "We have a window of opportunity to control the disease even by non medical methods like quarantine and whatnot, and therefore we should be able to get on top of it."
The 2022 global outbreak was caused by the Clade II type, with a mortality rate of less than one percent. The current Clade I type, endemic to central Africa, can be more fatal.
"The current outbreak that we are talking about is the Clade I which is a little scarily more lethal meaning adults they are talking up to 5 percent risk of death but even more worrisome is the fact that this current outbreak is a little bit of a novel clade, they have classified it as 1b so it's obviously an offshoot of the clade one and we need to know more about it," he added.
He also said that a 'slowly transmissible' disease which did not kill the majority of people would 'self sustain', meaning it would continue to circulate and infect more people.
Clade 1b led to the WHO declaring 'public health emergency of international concern'. Previously, the category was used for Ebola outbreaks, Covid-19 and the 2022 Mpox surge.
Dr Swaminathan also called for more training for medics around the globe to spot Mpox, and said that a vaccine for the strain could take up to six months.
"If there are countries which have very high levels of transmission, they will need the vaccine. Countries which are at an earlier stage may be able to control it with this quarantine and isolation, and they may not need a vaccine," he said.
On other treatments, he added that the potential was difficult to assess due to the lack of patients to test at the initial stage and the risk of harm from unproven therapies.
According to reports, there have been 15,000 cases of Mpox and over 500 deaths recorded in Africa this year, mostly in the DRC but also in 13 other countries. Sweden confirmed a case of the Clade 1 - the first outside Africa - last week, while Pakistan found one case of the Clade II type.
Infectious diseases expert Dr Subramanian Swaminathan admitted that people were 'scared' about the threat from mpox, adding that it could go around the world in just 48 hours, speaking from Chennai on Monday.
"People are scared. People are worried. Information and technology being what it is, good news travels slowly, bad news flies," he said. "And it's true [quite literally for mpox too] because with air travel being what it is, everything [like diseases] can get to any corner of the world within 48 hours max, probably less. So with that being said, obviously people are worried."
It came as the country's health ministry told airports and land ports to be on 'high alert' for passengers showing symptoms of the disease - although no cases had been confirmed in India at time of publication.
"I'm hopeful that the government will come up with a plan within the next 48 hours about what needs to be done, especially given the threat that we are seeing from the neighbourhood in terms of cases," he said.
"This is not something that mutates very quickly," the doctor continued. "We have a window of opportunity to control the disease even by non medical methods like quarantine and whatnot, and therefore we should be able to get on top of it."
The 2022 global outbreak was caused by the Clade II type, with a mortality rate of less than one percent. The current Clade I type, endemic to central Africa, can be more fatal.
"The current outbreak that we are talking about is the Clade I which is a little scarily more lethal meaning adults they are talking up to 5 percent risk of death but even more worrisome is the fact that this current outbreak is a little bit of a novel clade, they have classified it as 1b so it's obviously an offshoot of the clade one and we need to know more about it," he added.
He also said that a 'slowly transmissible' disease which did not kill the majority of people would 'self sustain', meaning it would continue to circulate and infect more people.
Clade 1b led to the WHO declaring 'public health emergency of international concern'. Previously, the category was used for Ebola outbreaks, Covid-19 and the 2022 Mpox surge.
Dr Swaminathan also called for more training for medics around the globe to spot Mpox, and said that a vaccine for the strain could take up to six months.
"If there are countries which have very high levels of transmission, they will need the vaccine. Countries which are at an earlier stage may be able to control it with this quarantine and isolation, and they may not need a vaccine," he said.
On other treatments, he added that the potential was difficult to assess due to the lack of patients to test at the initial stage and the risk of harm from unproven therapies.
According to reports, there have been 15,000 cases of Mpox and over 500 deaths recorded in Africa this year, mostly in the DRC but also in 13 other countries. Sweden confirmed a case of the Clade 1 - the first outside Africa - last week, while Pakistan found one case of the Clade II type.