AN EU country has confirmed the first case of mpox outside Africa as the WHO declared a global emergency over the ultra-deadly virus strain. Sweden's public health agency said that the person became infected during a stay in an area within the continent where there is currently a major outbreak of mpox Clade I. It comes just hours after the WHO declared mutant mpox a global health emergency after its rapid spread to at least 13 countries.
The highly contagious disease has already killed at least 500 people and infected 13,700 during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ). The virus - formally known as monkeypox - has spread to numerous countries in Africa and scientists are concerned about how fast a new variant of the disease is spreading and its high fatality rate. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond "is very worrying".
"A co-ordinated international response is essential to stop this outbreak and save lives," he said. Mpox is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person. There are two main types of mpox - clade 1 and clade 2.
A previous mpox public health emergency, declared in 2022, was caused by the relatively mild clade 2. Most read in Health However, this time it is the far more deadly clade 1 variant that is surging. It has a fatality rate of around five per cent in adults and 10 per cent in children, compared.