By The Telegraph (World News) | Created at 2024-10-30 15:15:11 | Updated at 2024-10-30 17:27:49
2 hours ago
The first case of a new, more dangerous strain of mpox has been found in Britain, the UK Health Security Agency has said.
The patient, who had recently returned from Africa, has been transferred to a high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in North London, the same facility where imported cases of Ebola were treated in 2015.
The strain of the virus – known as clade 1b mpox – is a different variant than the ones that have been circulating in the UK since 2022, and is thought to cause more severe disease.
Formerly known as monkeypox, the disease is primarily spread through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.
Mpox causes a characteristic lumpy rash with pus-filled lesions, fever, aches, and pains. It has also been linked to dangerous complications for pregnant women including miscarriage.
The mutant strain of mpox was first detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last year, and has since infected more than 25,000 people, and been responsible for the death of upwards of 1,000.
The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency earlier this year due to clade 1b’s rapid spread to neighbouring countries in Africa. It has since been detected in Sweden, Germany, India, and Thailand - all through patients who had travelled .
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS said they will study the patient to better understand the new strain of mpox and “learn more about severity, transmission, and control measures,” the agency said in a statement.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The overall risk to the UK population currently remains low and the government is working alongside UKHSA and the NHS to protect the public and prevent transmission.
“This includes securing vaccines and equipping healthcare professionals with the guidance and tools they need to respond to cases safely.”
The UKHSA says it will not reveal any more information about the patient, but confirmed they had travelled to countries in Africa “that are seeing community cases of Clade 1b mpox.”
Cases in the DRC - the epicentre of the outbreak - are continuing to rise, despite the recent rollout of vaccines which are reportedly taking longer than anticipated to reach badly affected areas.
The campaign launched earlier this month in the country’s hardest hit regions, with jabs donated from international partners including the US, European Union, and Japan.
Limited supply means just 265,000 doses currently available in the country of around 100 million people.
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