Sweden’s public health agency has recorded what it says is the first case of a new mpox infection outside the African continent.
This person contracted the disease while living in an area of Africa where mpox Clade 1 has broken out, the agency said.
This news comes a few hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the outbreak of mpox in some parts of Africa is now public health emergency international concern.
At least 450 people died when the disease first broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the disease has spread to central and eastern Africa.
According to Olivia Wigzell, the acting head of the Swedish government’s health center, the infected person sought care in the Stockholm area and that receiving treatment in Sweden does not mean there is a risk to the general population.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.
It causes flu-like symptoms, skin lesions and can be fatal, with four out of 100 deaths.
There are two types of mpox, Clade 1 and Clade 2. Although Clade 2 caused a public health emergency in 2022 it was mild and about 300 cases have been identified in Sweden.
Sweden’s public health agency said Clade 1 would likely be associated with “a high incidence of severe disease and high mortality”.
It said that Clade 1 is often spread through close contact in the home and often to children, while the weaker variant was spread mainly through sexual contact.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said symptoms usually appear 6-13 days after infection, with fever and headache, rash or sores and muscle pain.
Most people experience mild to moderate symptoms followed by full recovery but disabled people are at greater risk.
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