Two cases of mpox in the UK First local transmission in Europe: WHO

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Two new cases of the mpox variant clade 1b detected in the United Kingdom are the first locally transmitted cases in Europe and the first outside Africa, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

The UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) confirmed late on Monday that the two new cases were household contacts of the first case detected in England last week, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to three.

The WHO has warned that European states must be prepared for “rapid action” to contain the latest mpox variant, which is spread through close physical contact, including sexual intercourse, and sharing indoor spaces.

These two cases were also the first locally transmitted cases outside Africa since August 2024, when the WHO declared the emergence of the new variant an international public health emergency (highest level of alert).

The UKHSA said those affected were under specialist care and the risk to the UK population “remains low”.

The original case was detected after the person traveled on holiday to several African countries and returned to the UK on 21 October.

More than 24 hours later, the patient developed flu-like symptoms and began to develop a rash on October 24, which worsened over the following days.

There are two types of Mpox, a viral disease related to smallpox; class 1 and class 2. Symptoms include fever, skin rash or pus-filled blisters, swollen lymph nodes, and body aches.

WHO declared an international public health emergency for the first time in 2022 over the spread of class 2. This epidemic mostly affected gay and bisexual men in Europe and the United States.

Vaccination and awareness drives in many countries helped reduce the number of cases worldwide, and the WHO lifted the emergency in May 2023 after reporting 140 deaths out of approximately 87,400 cases.

In 2024, a dual epidemic of class 1 and class 1b, a new strain affecting children, spread widely in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The new species has also been recorded in neighboring Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda; Imported cases have also been seen in Sweden, India, Thailand, Germany and the United Kingdom.