CNN
—
Argentine health authorities have announced that they will test and quarantine a cargo ship in Argentine waters after crew members showed symptoms of poliovirus infection.
A spokesman for the country’s health ministry told CNN that the tests will be carried out by the Border Health Agency, which has already been in contact with the crew.
The ship was anchored in the river off its destination of Sao Lourenço at 6:10 p.m. ET, according to ship-tracking service MarineTraffic. Its previous port of call was Santos, Brazil.
Medical personnel will board the ship to test the crew to see if their symptoms are indeed consistent with MPOX. If so, samples will be taken for research. Pending the results of the research, the ship will remain in port and all crew members will be quarantined.
So far, the ministry has not said how many passengers are on board the Liberian-flagged Inalotte.
The United Nations on Friday called for increased health measures at Argentina’s borders, two days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern due to a new strain of poliovirus disease (MPOX) circulating in parts of Africa.
Other Latin American countries, including Colombia, El Salvador, Venezuela and Mexico, have announced similar monitoring measures.
A more deadly strain of the virus, lineage 1b (also known as lineage Ib), is spreading rapidly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has spread to at least four previously unaffected African countries.
Mpox is characterized by two genetic clades, 1 and 2. Clades are broad groups of viruses that have evolved over decades and are genetically and clinically distinct. The 2022 outbreak was caused by clade 2, while clade 1b causes more severe disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that the MPOX outbreak is not the next COVID-19 and called for a coordinated response to the ongoing outbreak.
“Smallpox is not COVID-19,” Hans Kluge, WHO’s European director, said in a press conference broadcast by video link from Geneva.
Kluj said more research was needed on the more deadly lineage 1b strain, but its spread could be controlled.
“We know how to control MPOX, and we know the measures necessary to completely eradicate it in the European region,” Kluj said, stressing the need for a coordinated response.
“The need is now greatest in the African region,” he said. “We can and must work together across regions and continents to tackle MPOX.”
The WHO declared a global health emergency last week due to concerns about the spread of lineage 1b in Africa, which has so far been contained to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The variant was later identified in Sweden, making it the first case outside of Africa to have been contracted during a visit to the continent.
For decades, the disease was found primarily in Central and West Africa, but began spreading in Europe and North America in 2022. The WHO declared the MPOX epidemic a global health emergency in July 2022, and ended the declaration in May 2023.
This story has been updated with additional information.
