A person living in the Stockholm region has been diagnosed as a carrier of the more contagious and dangerous Clade 1 strain of the mpox virus, the first time this has happened outside of Africa, the Swedish Public Health Authority announced today.
“The person in question was infected during his stay in an area of Africa where there has been a significant outbreak of mpox of the Clade 1 subtype,” Olivia Wigtsel, the interim head of the Swedish Public Health Authority, explained during a press conference.
The public health service confirmed to Agence France-Presse that it is the mpox variant of the Clade “1b” strain, which has been experiencing an outbreak since September 2023 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The infected person in Sweden received care and recommendations in accordance with the current regulations, Vigtsel assured.
“We estimate that Sweden is well prepared to safely and effectively diagnose, isolate and manage persons infected with mpox,” he added.
“The fact that one person is being treated for mpox in the country does not mean that there are risks for the rest of the population,” the public health service emphasized in a statement.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers this risk to be very small, he clarified.
The epidemic, which started in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has its peculiarities, first of all a more contagious and more dangerous virus. It is caused by the Clade 1 strain and an even more dangerous variant of it, Clade 1b. Its mortality rate is estimated at 3.6%.
The World Health Organization today announced the highest level of alert at the international level due to the increase in mpox cases in Africa.
Clade 1b causes skin rashes and lesions to appear all over the body, where earlier strains were characterized by rashes localized to the mouth, face or genitals.
A total of 38,465 cases of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, have been recorded since January 2022 in 16 African countries, with 1,456 deaths and a 160% increase in the number of cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data released last week by the African Union Health Service.
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