First case of potentially deadly mpox virus strain detected in the UK
30 October 2024, 15:29 | Updated: 30 October 2024, 15:35
The first UK case of a potentially deadly strain of the mpox virus has been detected in London.
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The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the risk to the UK population from the Clade Ib mpox strain "remains low".
There was no evidence of community transmission from the patient, who is being treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
The person involved had recently travelled to countries in Africa that are seeing cases of the strain in the community and travelled back to the UK on an overnight flight on October 21.
They developed flu-like symptoms more than 24 hours later and, on October 24, started to develop a rash which worsened in the following days.
The person attended an emergency department in London on October 27, where they were swabbed, tested and sent home to isolate while waiting for the results.
They have now been transferred to the Royal Free Hospital high consequence infectious diseases unit for treatment.
Fewer than 10 people who are thought to have come into contact with the patient are initially being traced, the UKHSA said.
These are household contacts, although the UKHSA is "still working" on the number of people it may have to contact trace.
Mpox only spreads between people when there is close contact.
Clade 1b appears to be less severe than some other strains, with countries where it is circulating reporting around a tenfold reduction in case fatality rate, according to the UKHSA.
It marks the first detection of this strain of mpox in the UK after Germany reported its first case earlier this month.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said the government was securing more vaccines and "equipping healthcare professionals with the guidance and tools they need to respond to cases safely".
At least 1,000 deaths from the strain had been reported across Africa at that time, which prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare the increasing spread of the disease a global health emergency for the second time in two years.
Clade Ib mpox has been widely circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent months and there have also been cases reported in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Sweden and India.
