Mpox, WHO confirms moderate risk: community transmission in Italy as well

The World Health Organization published on September 14, 2026 the report updating the risk assessment related to mpox, the infectious disease formerly known as monkeypox. The classification, drawn up through a rapid assessment conducted in August and confirmed by the official document, places the risk at a moderate level worldwide.

The finding that concerns our country most closely is the inclusion of Italy in the list of nations where the virus continues to circulate with community transmission of clade Ib of Mpxv. In the same group appear Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and United Kingdom. These are eight European countries, Italy included, where the WHO records a spread of the virus that is not limited to isolated imported cases but is sustained through local infections.

The distinction between mpox virus clades is not a marginal technical detail. Clade Ib is the variant that since 2023 has drawn the greatest attention from international health authorities due to its capacity for spread, distinct from clade IIb which had characterized the 2022 epidemic. The presence of community transmission, that is, not traceable to travel or contact with areas of origin of the virus, indicates that circulation has taken local root in several European countries.

It must be clearly stated what the limits of this information are as it emerges from the available material: the news currently comes from a single source, the WHO report picked up by a news outlet; an independent confirmation of the specific extent of Italian circulation is not currently possible, nor are figures on confirmed cases in our country available here. The WHO itself qualifies the risk as moderate, not high, a detail that must be retained in reading the news: the agency’s classification distinguishes between an alert requiring surveillance and public health measures and a scenario of acute emergency.

Mpox had already been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO in 2024 precisely in relation to the spread of clade Ib, first in Central Africa and then on other continents. The September 14, 2026 report confirms that this classification remains in effect, updating the map of countries affected by community transmission.

For Italian readers the relevant point is that surveillance remains active in the country as well, according to what was reported by the agency. The WHO’s assessment does not amount to an immediate alarm for the general population, but signals a circulation of the virus that international health authorities consider worthy of continuous monitoring, in line with the moderate risk classification maintained by the report.