Sweden announced on Thursday that it has confirmed a case of a more contagious strain of mpox, previously known as monkeypox, which is currently spreading in central and eastern Africa. This is the first recorded instance of this strain outside the African continent.
The World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years on Wednesday, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has affected twelve other countries in the region.
Health and Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed commented during a news conference, “We have now also had confirmation that we have one case in Sweden of the more severe type of mpox, referred to as clade I.”
Mpox is a viral illness transmitted through close contact and is categorized into two main groups known as clades: clade I and clade II. The strain that gained widespread attention in 2022, leading to the WHO’s first emergency declaration, was a variant of clade II. The ongoing outbreak, however, involves clade I, which is considered to have a higher risk of severe disease and higher mortality rates, according to Sweden’s Public Health Agency.
The agency indicated that the individual diagnosed with mpox sought medical attention in Stockholm after returning from Africa. The clade I variant causing the current outbreak in Congo is believed to be transmissible through typical close contact, such as interactions among household members, contrasting with the clade II strain that predominantly spread through sexual contact among men who have sex with men during the previous outbreak.