By Paul Kirby and Smitha Mundasad, BBC News
A patient showing his hand with a sore caused by an infection of the monkeypox virus (file photo). Photo: ERNESTO BENAVIDES
Sweden's public health agency has recorded what it says is the first case of a more dangerous variant of mpox outside the African continent.
The person became infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is currently a major outbreak of mpox Clade 1, the agency said.
The news comes just hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of mpox in parts of Africa was now a public health emergency of international concern.
At least 450 people died during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the disease has since spread to areas of Central and East Africa.
According to Olivia Wigzell, the acting head of the Swedish public health agency, the infected person had sought care in the Stockholm area and the fact that they were receiving treatment in Sweden did not mean there was a risk to the broader population.
"The affected person has also been infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is a large outbreak of mpox Clade 1," she told a news conference.
Mpox, which was previously known as monkeypox, is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.
It causes flu-like symptoms, skin lesions and can be fatal, with four in 100 cases leading to death. It is most common in the tropical rainforests of West and Central Africa and there are thousands of infections every year.
There are currently a number of outbreaks of mpox that are taking place simultaneously and they are partly fuelled by the newer and more serious strain of Clade 1, identified in September last year.
While Clade 2 did cause a public health emergency in 2022, it was relatively mild and some 300 cases have already been identified in Sweden.
The Swedish public health agency said Clade 1 was likely to be linked to "a higher rise of a more severe course of disease and higher mortality".
It said Clade 1 was more commonly spread through close contacts within households and often to children, while the milder variant was mainly spread through sexual contact.
The WHO hopes its latest declaration, that mpox is a public health emergency of international concern, will trigger greater support to the areas most affected.
Vaccines are available, for those at greatest risk or who have been in close contact with an infected person, but many experts worry there are not enough jabs or funding to get them to the people who need them most.
The mortality rate from the Clade 1 variant in Sweden will not be as high as that seen in parts of Africa, because of the high quality of healthcare in Europe.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said symptoms usually appeared 6-13 days after infection, through fevers and headaches, rashes or sores and muscle ache.
Most people experienced mild to moderate symptoms followed by a full recovery, but immuno-compromised individuals were at greater risk.
While news of the first case outside Africa may cause alarm, it was to be expected and further cases are likely to follow in other parts of the globe.
As other disease outbreaks have shown, swift international action can help stop the disease spreading further.
- BBC