The first case of Clade 1 monkeypox outside Africa has been recorded in Sweden, health authorities in Stockholm have announced. They insisted there was no risk to the general public, however.
Thursday’s announcement comes just a day after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern over the resurgence of the virus.
“The affected person has also been infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is a large outbreak of mpox Clade 1,” Olivia Wigzell, acting head of the Swedish public health agency, told reporters.
“Mpox” is the WHO-designated term for the virus, changed in November 2022 to “avoid stigma” allegedly associated with monkeys and Africa.
The strand of the virus that initially alarmed the WHO is now known 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 some 275km from the border with Rwanda. There have been confirmed cases in Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya since then.
The two forms of the virus cause the same disease, but Clade 1 is “likely to be associated with a higher risk of a more severe course of disease and higher mortality,” the Swedish authorities said. While Clade 2 is mainly spread through sexual contact, Clade 1 is more commonly transmitted through “close contacts within the household and often to children.”
Mpox is primarily transmitted through skin and mucosal contact with an infected person, 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 sought the WHO’s help in curbing the spread of monkeypox. According to Africa CDC, the continent needs more than ten million mpox vaccines, and only has about 200,000 doses available at the moment. A two-dose jab developed to counter the virus is widely available in the West.
Monkeypox was first detected in macaque monkeys in the late 1950s. The WHO registered the first human case in 1970 in Zaire, now known as DR Congo.
