Mpox outbreak in the Netherlands, 2022: public health response, characteristics of the first 1,000 cases and protection of the first-generation smallpox vaccine
Eurosurveillance·
- DOI
- 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2023.28.12.2200772
- PMID
- 36951783
- PMCID
- PMC10037659
- OpenAlex
- W4360599511
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The findings characterize a high-incidence mpox outbreak in a specific population and provide quantitative estimates of vaccine protection, contributing evidence relevant to vaccination strategy and risk communication for at-risk communities.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
This study described characteristics of the first 1,000 mpox cases reported in the Netherlands between May 20 and August 8, 2022, within the context of the public health response, and estimated the protective effect of first-generation smallpox vaccination against moderate or severe mpox disease.
Study design
The study was a descriptive analysis of the first 1,000 confirmed mpox cases in the Netherlands, combined with a vaccine effectiveness analysis estimating protection from first-generation smallpox vaccine against moderate or severe mpox.
Population and setting
Cases were reported across the Netherlands between May 20 and August 8, 2022. The affected population was predominantly men who have sex with men, aged 31 to 45 years.
Main findings
The Netherlands reported 1,000 cases by August 8, 2022, representing a cumulative incidence of 55 per million population, described as one of the highest worldwide at that time. Transmission occurred predominantly through sexual contact with casual partners in private and recreational settings, indicating sustained domestic spread. Vaccine effectiveness against moderate or severe mpox was estimated at 58 percent, with a 95 percent confidence interval ranging from 17 to 78 percent.
Public-health relevance
The findings characterize a high-incidence mpox outbreak in a specific population and provide quantitative estimates of vaccine protection, contributing evidence relevant to vaccination strategy and risk communication for at-risk communities.
Important limitations
The summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and bibliographic metadata. This structured evidence summary cannot assess potential selection biases in case identification, completeness of case capture, or generalizability of findings beyond the Netherlands context during the study period. The original paper would be required for assessment of analytical methods, data quality, and any additional limitations.
GIDS interpretation
This article describes characteristics and vaccine effectiveness from a national mpox outbreak during 2022. It does not constitute surveillance data or confirmatory evidence for any active signal, but rather provides epidemiological characterization of reported cases and a calculated vaccine effectiveness estimate. Interpretation should remain scoped to the study context.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 14 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.