A mpox patient who contracted the virus in Africa has sought medical attention in Sweden.
The first case of Clade 1 monkeypox outside Africa has been documented in Sweden, according to health authorities in Stockholm. They maintain that there is no risk to the general public.
This announcement follows closely after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern over the resurgence of the virus.
“The individual affected contracted the virus while in a region of Africa experiencing a significant mpox Clade 1 outbreak,” Olivia Wigzell, acting head of the Swedish public health agency, informed reporters.
“Mpox” is the name adopted by the WHO for the virus in November 2022, intended to “avoid stigma” allegedly associated with monkeys and Africa.
The strain of the virus that initially raised alarms for the WHO is now classified as Clade 2. The Swedish case involves Clade 1b, which first emerged last September among sex workers in Kamituga, a mining town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo approximately 275km from the Rwandan border. Since then, confirmed cases have been reported in Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya.
Both forms of the virus cause the same disease, but Clade 1 is “likely associated with a higher risk of a more severe course of the disease and increased mortality,” Swedish authorities stated. While Clade 2 primarily spreads through sexual contact, Clade 1 is more commonly transmitted through “close contact within households, often affecting children.”
Mpox is primarily transmitted through skin and mucosal contact with an infected individual, contaminated items, or infected animals. Symptoms include an acute rash, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and body aches, high fever, and headaches.
Earlier this week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for increased efforts in curbing the spread of monkeypox. According to the Africa CDC, the continent requires over ten million mpox vaccines and currently only has around 200,000 doses available. A two-dose vaccination developed to counter the virus is readily accessible in the West.
Monkeypox was first identified in macaque monkeys in the late 1950s. The WHO recorded the first human case in 1970 in Zaire, now known as DR Congo.