Sweden Reports First Case of New Mpox Strain as Africa Outbreak Continues

FRIDAY, Aug. 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) — As an outbreak of a new strain of mpox continues in Africa, Sweden announced Thursday that it has confirmed the first case in that country.

Known as the clade I strain, this latest iteration of mpox appears to be spread more easily and cause more severe disease, experts say.

“A person who sought care at Region Stockholm has been diagnosed with mpox caused by the clade I variant. It is the first case caused by clade I to be diagnosed outside the African continent,” the Public Health Agency of Sweden said in a news release.

“In this case, a person has been infected during a stay in the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox clade I,” said state epidemiologist Magnus Gisslén. “This case does not require any additional infection control measures in itself, but we take the outbreak of clade I mpox very seriously. We are closely monitoring the outbreak and we are continuously assessing whether new measures are needed.”

Sweden”s news follows a declaration made Wednesday by the World Health Organization that the ongoing African outbreak of clade 1 mpox is now a global health emergency.

The virus” troubling spread throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and nearby countries in central Africa, drove the declaration, WHO director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the time.

“The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern DRC, its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” he noted in a WHO news release.

According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the new outbreak has led to more than 17,500 confirmed and presumed mpox cases and 524 deaths in 13 countries, some of which have never been affected by the disease before.

Most cases have occurred in the DRC, and women and children under the age of 15 appear to be most at risk.

Until Thursday, the newly spotted strain hadn”t been identified in cases outside of Africa.

But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert last week that advised health care providers to be on the lookout for the new mpox strain in patients who have recently been in the DRC or any neighboring country (Angola, Burundi, Central Africa).

Still, “due to the limited number of travelers and lack of direct commercial flights from DRC or its neighboring countries to the United States, the risk of clade I mpox importation to the United States is considered to be very low,” the CDC added.

Wednesday”s WHO declaration was meant to spur health agencies in countries worldwide to be on heightened alert for local cases, and to help supply vaccines, treatments and other resources to developing nations hit hard by the disease.