Almost 60 close contacts identified in Brisbane Mpox outbreak

Almost 60 people identified as close contacts to a confirmed case of Mpox in Brisbane’s south have been offered a vaccine and are isolating, as Queensland Health works to trace further potential exposures.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the infected man had acquired the illness overseas, and had not been contagious on his flight into Australia from Africa.

“We think there are 19 community contacts and 40 staff contacts that have been in contact with the patient,” Nicholls said.

Logan Hospital, south of Brisbane, where a case of clade I Mpox has been confirmed.Credit: Dan Peled

“The patient has a close family, and that family is isolating at home.

“At the moment, his family are asymptomatic – that is, they’re not showing any signs of the ‘clade I Mpox’.”

Nicholls said other close contacts were primarily in the emergency ward at Logan Hospital, where the man had presented with symptoms, but that his family had children of primary and high school age, as well as smaller children in childcare.

“Those high schools, primary schools, and childcare centres either have been or are in the process of being identified,” he said.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral infection that spreads mainly through very close or intimate contact.

The strain detected in Logan Hospital this week is only the second of its kind to be reported in Australia. In May, the first recorded case of Mpox clade I was identified in NSW, in a person who had travelled overseas.

Princess Alexandra Hospital chief of infectious diseases Dr Geoffrey Playford said clave I is more contagious than the more common clave II strain.

“Over the past year and a half in Queensland, we’ve had 135 cases of Mpox clave II – this the first case of clave I,” he said.

Thousands of people have suffered from Mpox in places such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.Credit: AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa

Playford said the clave II strain presents more obvious symptoms, but that the vaccine was highly effective in “either preventing it or making the disease that occurs significantly milder and shorter”.

He said he did not expect to see more community cases, however he did expect to see more healthcare workers identified as close contacts in the coming days.

Mpox typically presents with symptoms including fever, headache, and swollen lymph nodes. It can also be followed by a rash or lesions.

The World Health Organisation declared Mpox a public health emergency of international concern last year.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says several American cases have been linked to travel in West Africa, which has an outbreak of clade II.

Anyone who believes they may have been exposed is urged to contact a health facility and inform staff before attending.

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