In May last year, the World Health Organization announced that the outbreak of mpox (formerly monkeypox) is no longer considered to pose an international threat to human health. The outbreak that began the year before had finally subsided.
The variant of the virus that caused the spread of infection is called Clade II, and results in a relatively mild course of the disease. Alongside this virus strain, there is also Clade I, especially in Central Africa. This variant causes more severe disease, but before 2023 there was no evidence of Clade I spreading sexually, in the same way as Clade II.
But now something seems to have happened, writes Nature. In a short time, Clade I seems to have adopted the ability to spread in connection with sexual contacts. In a study that has not yet been scientifically reviewed, researchers describe an outbreak of Clade I in a conflict-torn part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The current outbreak includes 241 suspected and 108 confirmed cases of the disease, although the number actually affected is believed to be many times higher due to the limited opportunities for testing.
What worries the researchers is the fact that just under a third (30 percent) of those affected are sex workers, a sign that even Clade I now has the ability to spread in connection with sexual contacts.
Anne Rimoin, epidemiologist at the University of California in the US, who has worked with outbreaks of mpox in the Congo since 2002, tells the journal that the risk of the current outbreak now spreading to other parts of the country is very high.
According to the CDC, Clade I occurs at a relatively constant level in Central Africa. The virus variant causes a more severe disease than Clade II, with a mortality rate of about 10 percent among those who contract symptoms. In connection with the most recent outbreaks of Clade I, however, the mortality rate has been somewhat lower, the authority writes on its website.
Facts.Mpox
● Mpox is a so-called zoonosis, that is, a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans. The disease is caused by monkeypox virus.
● The virus was first discovered in monkeys and the disease was therefore named monkeypox, but the infection has mainly been found in various types of rodents in Central and West Africa. Nowadays the disease is called mpox.
● Mpox is primarily transmitted through close physical contact with a person who is infected. In the most recent international outbreak, the spread occurred almost exclusively in connection with sexual contacts among men who have sex with men. This does not mean that the disease cannot spread in other ways and in other groups.
● The symptoms of mpox caused by Clade II are often relatively mild, but the disease can result in pain and discomfort. Those who are infected can, among other things, get blisters or sores on the body, fever and headache.
● In Sweden, most cases were discovered in the metropolitan regions. The majority had been infected abroad.
Source: Public Health Agency
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