Germany detects first case of new mpox variant

Germany has reported its first case of a new mpox variant, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for public health. The health authority stressed that the risk to the wider population remains low.

A surge of cases of the viral illness appeared in several African nations in August, primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo, prompting the World Health Organization to declare mpox a public health emergency of international concern. 

While cases of the clade 1 and clade 2 variants of the virus have since been reported in over 120 countries according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, a particularly concerning variant dubbed clade 1b has so far only been identified in a handful of countries outside the DR Congo, including India, Thailand, and Sweden.

The WHO has described clade 1b as more contagious and more dangerous than previous variants, but public health experts have said that there is still too little reliable data on it.

In a statement on Tuesday, RKI announced that the new variant of the virus had been detected for the first time in Germany on October 18, noting that the patient had acquired the infection abroad. The institute also pointed out that close physical contact was required for transmission.

Nevertheless, the health authority stressed that it “currently considers the risk to the health of the general population in Germany to be low,” and stated that it will continue to monitor the situation and adapt its assessment if needed.

In a flier published on Monday, the RKI also explained that transmission of the new mpox variant occurs primarily through close physical contact with persons already infected with the virus. It also recalled that in May 2022, when the spread of mpox outside Africa was observed for the first time, infections were found to be transmitted mainly through “sexual contact between men who have sex with men.”

Mpox symptoms are said to include fever, headache, muscle and back pain, swollen lymph nodes and skin changes that begin with spots, progressing to pustules that eventually crust over and fall off. While for most people the disease is mild, it could be fatal for people with a weakened immune system.

The virus was first identified as a distinct illness in 1958 among laboratory monkeys in Denmark, being dubbed ‘Monkey Pox’. The first documented cases in humans were recorded in 1970 in the DR Congo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. When it began spreading rapidly in late 2022, the WHO renamed the disease mpox, to avoid “racist and stigmatizing language.”