British health authorities say they have identified four cases of the new, more infectious version of the mpox virus that first emerged in the Congo, marking the first time the variant has caused a disease outbreak outside Africa. Scientists said the risk to the public remains low.
Authorities announced the first case of the new form of mpox in the United Kingdom, saying the case was being treated in a London hospital after recently traveling to countries in Africa with ongoing outbreaks.
The UK Health Security Agency said it had identified three more cases who were living in the same home as the first patient. They are also being treated in a London hospital.
Mpox is highly contagious in households with close contact, so it is not unexpected to see more cases within the same household,” said Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency.
The new variant of the mpox virus was first detected in early 2024 in eastern Congo. Scientists believe it causes milder symptoms that are harder to notice, making it easier to spread because people may not know they are infected.
Its spread in the Congo and in other parts of Africa led the World Health Organization to declare a global emergency.
Britain recorded more than three thousand cases of another type of mpox during a 2022 outbreak that affected more than 100 countries.
The new variant of the human immunodeficiency virus (MPOX) has also caused outbreaks in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Isolated cases in travelers have also been reported in Sweden, India, Germany and Thailand.
To date, around 43 thousand cases have been registered mpox suspects in Africa, including more than a thousand deaths, most in the Congo.
The WHO said it had allocated 899,900 vaccine doses to nine African countries fighting mpox epidemics.
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