UK health officials have confirmed four new cases of the new, more infectious version of mpox that first emerged in DR Congo, Clade 1b. This is the first time that this variant has caused a cluster of the illness outside of Africa. This is the same strain that led the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare Mpox as a public health emergency.
According to reports, authorities announced the first case of the new form of mpox in the U.K. last week.
They said that the case was being treated at a London hospital after recently travelling to countries in Africa with ongoing outbreaks. The U.K.
Health Security Agency, this week, said, it had now identified three further cases who lived in the same household as the first patient. They too are now being treated at a hospital in London. Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor of the U.
K. Health Security Agency said, “Mpox is very infectious in households with close contact and so it is not unexpected to see further cases within the same household.” Britain recorded more than 3,000 cases of the other strain of mpox during a 2022 outbreak that hit more than 100 countries.
Also, the variant of mpox has also caused outbreaks in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Single cases in travellers have also been reported in Sweden, India, Germany and Thailand. The WHO on Wednesday, said it had allocated 899,900 vaccine doses to nine African countries struggling with mpox epidemics.
Mpox, also known as monkeypox is a viral disease that’s cause.