The spread of the new strain of mpox to the UK is “inevitable”, a leading expert on infectious disease has warned after the first case was detected in Europe. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control raised its risk alert level for mpox on Friday, two days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global public health emergency. Chloe Orkin, professor of infection and inequities at Queen Mary University, London said the UK “should be worried” by the spread of the virus.
Speaking to Sky News, she said: “Yes, it it inevitable that this strain of mpox that started off in 2024 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and that has now spread to at least nine neighbouring countries will come to the UK because of international travel.” However, she added that it didn’t mean it would necessarily spread widely within the UK. What is the current state of the virus? The new strain of mpox is known as clade 1b and emerged in the (DRC) last year, according to the WHO.
Europe’s first case of this strain of mpox was confirmed in Sweden on Thurday. Sweden’s public health agency said the person became infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is currently a major outbreak of mpox Clade 1. On Friday, Pakistan’s health ministry confirmed it had found at least one case of the mpox virus in a patient who had returned from a Gulf country but said it did not yet know the type of strain of the virus.
It comes after Dr Tedros Adhanom G.