Mpox: Global ports begin screening of ships calling African ports

At ports across the world seafarers are being screened for mpox in the wake of a new more virulent strain of the virus being detected in Africa.

Ports in Singapore, India, Bangladesh, China and Uruguay are among those to have put in place seafarer health checks for any ships that have travelled recently from Africa.

An entire ship’s crew was quarantined last week in Argentina over fears that the skin lesions found on one seafarer were a strain of mpox, something that following health checks was later found to be chicken pox.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared mpox to be a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the virus spread rapidly in Africa.

Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill. The clade 1b variety of mpox has triggered global concern because it seems to spread more easily through routine close contact.