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Volume 32, Number 2—February 2026

Dispatch

Characteristics and Transmission Dynamics of Global Travel-Related Mpox Cases Caused by Clade Ib Monkeypox Virus

Henry Laurenson-Schafer1, Martina McMenamin1, Lennox Kesington Ebbarnezh, Ioannis Karagiannis, Viema Biaukula, Rosamund Lewis, Masaya Kato, Michel Muteba, Jeremias D. Naiene, Felix Sanni, Tshewang Dorji, Lorenzo Subissi, Marc-Alain Widdowson, Ana HoxhaComments to Author , Olivier le Polain de Waroux, and WHO Mpox Collaborative Surveillance Group1
Author affiliation: World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme, Geneva, Switzerland (H. Laurenson-Schafer, M. McMenamin, L.K. Ebbarnezh, R. Lewis, L. Subissi, A. Hosha, O. le Polain de Waroux); WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Regional Office for the European Region, Copenhagen, Denmark (I. Karagiannis, M.-A. Widdowson); WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Regional Office for the Western Pacific Region, Manila, Philippines (V. Biaukula); WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Regional Office for the South-East Asian Region, New Delhi, India (M. Kato); WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo (M. Muteba, F. Sanni); WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Cairo, Egypt (J.D. Naiene); WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA (T. Dorji)

Main Article

Figure 2

Characteristics and transmission dynamics among global travel-related mpox cases caused by clade Ib monkeypox virus. A) Sankey diagram of secondary transmission events among 33 transmission events and secondarily infected persons. Index cases causing multiple secondary cases were counted per secondary case. Children are persons <17 years of age. B) Box and whisker plot representing the serial interval for symptom onset by reported contact type for 14 case–contact pairs. Close contact is physical nonsexual interaction between the index and secondary case. Box left and right edges represent 95% CIs, vertical lines indicate medians, and whiskers represent ranges. C) Number of high-risk contacts per each imported MPXV clade Ib case with available data among 33 high-risk contacts. D) Secondary attack rate (with 95% CIs) by reported contact type. Household contacts represent 8 secondary cases from 47 contacts; sexual contacts represent 8 secondary cases from 11 contacts.

Figure 2. Characteristics and transmission dynamics among global travel-related mpox cases caused by clade Ib monkeypox virus. A) Sankey diagram of secondary transmission events among 33 transmission events and secondarily infected persons. Index cases causing multiple secondary cases were counted per secondary case. Children are persons <17 years of age. B) Box and whisker plot representing the serial interval for symptom onset by reported contact type for 14 case–contact pairs. Close contact is physical nonsexual interaction between the index and secondary case. Box left and right edges represent 95% CIs, vertical lines indicate medians, and whiskers represent ranges. C) Number of high-risk contacts per each imported MPXV clade Ib case with available data among 33 high-risk contacts. D) Secondary attack rate (with 95% CIs) by reported contact type. Household contacts represent 8 secondary cases from 47 contacts; sexual contacts represent 8 secondary cases from 11 contacts.

Main Article

1These first authors contributed equally to this article.

2Members of this group are listed at the end of this article.

Page created: January 20, 2026
Page updated: February 09, 2026
Page reviewed: February 09, 2026
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