Doctors warn new mpox strain is ‘almost certainly’ in UK as Sweden detects first case

Officials in Sweden have detected the first official case of the new mpox strain, Clade 1, outside of Africa, leading experts to fear that the virus may already be in the UK.

Clade 1 mpox virus is associated with a more severe disease and higher mortality rates than the Clade 2 virus responsible for the international mpox outbreak in 2022.

A spokesperson for Sweden’s public health agency said that the infected person was receiving specialised care, adding: “We are closely monitoring the outbreak and we are continuously assessing whether new measures are needed.”

Mpox has been on the rise in African countries, with cases and deaths from the virus recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, the Republic of Congo, Liberia, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya, as well as Pakistan.

Mpox is a viral infection transmitted through close contact such as sex, touch, talking, or breathing close to another person and can cause painful skin lesions for those infected.

An mpox public health emergency was declared in 2022, caused by a relatively mild strain of mpox, and was primarily affecting men who had sex with men. A widespread vaccination campaign helped to prevent the virus from infecting many more people.

The new cases are caused by a more virulent and deadly strain that has a fatality rate of around 5% in adults and 10% in children.

It is unclear whether the previous mpox vaccine is effective against this strain.

The World Health Organisation has already declared this strain of mpox to be a public health emergency of international concern after cases were confirmed in 15 countries.

The Sun reports that experts have warned that mpox Clade 1 is “almost certainly” already in the UK.

Professor Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told Times Radio: “We saw with the 2022 pandemic of mpox that once it gets into sexual networks, it can spread very rapidly around the world and it’s actually very difficult to control that spread.”

“I think it’s not surprising that we’ve had a first case in Europe, and I think we’re going to see more. So hopefully we won’t see the same sorts of levels of mortality that they’re seeing in Africa, but only time will tell.”

Dr Jonas Albarnaz, a Research Fellow specialising in pox viruses at The Pirbright Institute, said: “This is hard to predict whether we will see further cases of Clade 1 mpox outside of Africa, but this case in Sweden is a warning call for public health authorities to be vigilant and implement robust surveillance and contact-tracing strategies to detect possible new cases early on.

“It’s also critical to determine what is the link between this clade 1 monkeypox virus detected in Sweden and the ongoing outbreak in DRC.”

But UK health chiefs have reassured the public, saying the risk of mpox spreading across the country is low.

Plans are in place to ensure that UK healthcare workers are aware of the symptoms of mpox and will be able to sound the alarm if necessary, as well as deploying rapid tests where needed.