Sweden reports first case of new Mpox variant

FRIDAY, Aug. 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) — As a new strain of Mpox continues to erupt in Africa, Sweden announced Thursday that the first case in the country has been confirmed.

This latest form of the Mpox virus, known as the Clade I strain, appears to spread more easily and cause more severe disease, according to experts.

“A person seeking treatment in the Stockholm region has been diagnosed with Mpox, which is caused by the Clade I variant. It is the first case caused by Clade I to be diagnosed outside the African continent,” the Swedish Health Authority said in a press release.

“In this case, a person became infected during a stay in the part of Africa where there is a large outbreak of Mpox clade I,” said state epidemiologist Magnus Gisslén. “This case does not in itself require additional infection control measures, but we take the outbreak of Mpox clade I very seriously. We are closely monitoring the outbreak and continuously assessing whether new measures are needed.”

The Swedish news follows a statement from the World Health Organization on Wednesday that the ongoing African outbreak of clade 1 Mpox is now a global health emergency.

The reason for the declaration was the worrying spread of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighboring Central African countries, said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the time.

“The discovery and rapid spread of a new Mpox group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, its discovery in neighbouring countries where Mpox was not previously reported, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond are very concerning,” he said in a WHO press release.

According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the new outbreak has resulted in more than 17,500 confirmed and suspected Mpox cases and 524 deaths in 13 countries, some of which have never been affected by the disease before.

Most cases occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Women and children under 15 appear to be most at risk.

As of Thursday, the newly discovered variant had not been detected in any case outside Africa.

But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert last week urging healthcare providers to be alert for the new Mpox strain in patients who had recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or a neighboring country (Angola, Burundi, Central Africa).

However, “the risk of introduction of Impox strains into the United States is considered very low due to the limited number of travelers and the lack of direct commercial flights from the Democratic Republic of Congo or its neighboring countries to the United States,” the CDC added.

The WHO's statement on Wednesday should encourage health authorities around the world to be on heightened alert for local cases and to help supply vaccines, treatments and other resources to developing countries most affected by the disease.

“We need concerted international action to contain this latest, novel outbreak,” Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University who served on the WHO’s MPOX committee in 2022, told the new York Just.

The WHO announcement followed a statement by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday that the outbreak was a “continental health emergency”.

This is the second time in three years that the WHO has declared an Mpox outbreak a global health emergency.

In July 2022, an outbreak that originated in Africa spread worldwide, affecting nearly 100,000 people, mostly gay and bisexual men, in 116 countries, and killing about 200 people. Just reported.

What is worrying about the new outbreak is that the death rate associated with the new variant of the disease appears to be higher: about three percent of those infected have died, rather than the 0.2 percent observed in the 2022 outbreak.

Mpox is transmitted through close skin-to-skin contact, including sex. It is characterized by a painful rash on the hands, feet, chest, mouth, or genitals, as well as fever, respiratory symptoms, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes.

There is a vaccine called Jynneos that can protect vulnerable people from Mpox.

Thanks to vaccination and behavior change among gay and bisexual men, the group most affected by the outbreak in the United States in 2022, the number of MPOX cases in the United States fell from over 30,000 in 2022 to 1,700 in 2023.

But the virus is changing: Scientists discovered in 2023 that Mpox has mutated and can therefore spread more easily between people. Sexual transmission, often through heterosexual prostitution, is a major route of infection in Africa.

“I think we have learned a lot about the speed at which this virus can spread,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, of the Just. She was a member of the Mpox Panel 2022.

The Democratic Republic of Congo remains the epicenter of the African outbreak, but the country has not yet put in place a vaccination plan. Two vaccines, Jynneos and a Japanese vaccine called LC16, have been approved in the Democratic Republic of Congo to combat Mpox, the Just said.

Although donated vaccines are gradually arriving in Africa, the Africa CDC has stated that more than ten million doses will be needed to contain the outbreak.

Dr. Nicole Lurie is executive director of preparedness and response at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a nonprofit organization that funds vaccine development.

In conversation with the Justshe said, “This outbreak has been simmering for quite some time and we have repeatedly missed opportunities to contain it. I'm really glad that everyone is now paying attention and focusing their efforts on it.”

More information

For more information about Mpox, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCE: Swedish Public Health Agency, press release, August 15, 2024; WHO, press release, August 14, 2024; New York Times