STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Sweden's public health agency confirmed that a more dangerous variant of mpox virus, has been reported in a person, who stayed in mpox Claude I outbreak area in Africa.
'We have now also during the afternoon had confirmation that we have one case in Sweden of the more grave type of mpox, the one called clade I,' Jakob Forssmed, the health and social affairs minister, said during the press conference.
Clade I, which is endemic to Central African countries, is considered more lethal than clade II. Both clade I and clade II are primary strains of the mpox virus, formerly known as monkeypox virus.
The director-general of the health agency, Olivia Wigzell, said that the infected person is under treatment in the Stockholm area.
'The case is the first caused by clade I that has been diagnosed outside the African continent. The affected person has also been infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is a large outbreak of mpox clade I,' Wigzell said.
The announcement comes hours after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the declaration after assessing that the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a growing number of African countries constitutes a public health emergency of international concern under WHO's International Health Regulations.
The mpox Claude 1 cases have been largely witnessed in Democratic Republic of Congo, where so far more than 15600 cases and 537 deaths were reported. The disease has also been confirmed in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
Since January 2022, Africa has reported 38,465 cases and 1,456 deaths related to mpox.
The virus spreads human-to-human through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person, causing flu-like symptoms and skin lesions.
Currently, WHO has recommended two vaccines for use against mpox.
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