First case of potentially deadly mpox strain detected in UK | UK News
The first case of the Clade Ib mpox virus has been detected in London.
The person involved had been on holiday in Africa and flew back to the UK on an overnight flight on October 21, developing flu-like symptoms more than 24 hours later.
By October 24 they had developed a rash, which worsened over the next few days, and they went to hospital on October 27 where they were tested and sent home to isolate.
They have now been transferred to the Royal Free Hospital high consequence infectious diseases unit for treatment.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the risk to the UK population from the Clade Ib mpox strain ‘remains low’.
Work is underway to track people thought to have come into contact with the person involved, with fewer than 10 people being tracked so far.
These are all household contacts, and the UKHSA is ‘still working’ on the number of people it may have to contract trace.
Clade Ib mpox has been widely circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in recent months and there have been cases reported in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Sweden, India and Germany.
As of early September, more than 600 deaths from the virus had been reported.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a public health emergency of international concern because of the rapid spread of the mpox strain.
Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UKHSA, said: ‘It is thanks to our surveillance that we have been able to detect this virus.
‘This is the first time we have detected this Clade of mpox in the UK, though other cases have been confirmed abroad.