WHO confirms first MPOX case outside Africa as outbreak spreads

The World Health Organization confirmed on Thursday that a case of the Mpox virus infection in Sweden is linked to an outbreak in Africa, the first sign of the disease spreading outside the continent, a day after the WHO declared the illness a global public health emergency.

Swedish health officials said at a press conference that the person in Africa was infected with the Mpox type clade Ib responsible for the recent outbreak.

The Swedish Health Authority said in a statement that the patient had recently sought medical treatment in Stockholm.

Magnus Gisslen, a state epidemiologist at the Swedish Public Health Agency, said the person had been treated and taught “rules of conduct.”

“The fact that a patient is treated with MPOX in the country does not affect the risk to the general population,” Swedish officials said, adding that experts assessed this risk as “very low.”

However, they stated that imported cases may still occur occasionally.

Both US and Canadian authorities said they had not identified any cases so far.

The WHO declared the outbreak in Africa a public health emergency on Wednesday after cases from the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to neighboring countries.

Clade Ib, the version of the virus responsible for the current outbreak, is believed to cause a more severe form of MPOX than the version that led to a public health emergency in 2022.

The virus is transmitted through close contact.

Additional reporting by Associated Press