Sweden has reported the first confirmed case of the more deadly monkeypox virus variant, denoted as “clade I,” outside Africa. The case, publicly reported on August 15, is what prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global public health emergency a day earlier. According to the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the individual contracted the virus during a visit to an area in Africa affected by the outbreak.
Sweden’s state epidemiologist, Magnus Gisslén, stated that while this case does not require additional infection control measures, the outbreak of monkeypox clade I is being taken very seriously. The Swedish public health agency noted that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will soon issue a new risk assessment on monkeypox. The agency warned that more “isolated import cases” might occur.
Clade I is linked to more severe illness and higher fatality rates compared to clade II, which was prevalent during the 2022 outbreak in Europe and North America. The monkeypox virus variant also appears to affect children more frequently. Professor Paul Hunter from the University of East Anglia suggested that clade I is “almost certainly” present in the UK.
The WHO reported that the first known case of sexually transmitted monkeypox clade I in the DRC involved a Belgian resident, although no evidence of clade I circulation has been found in Belgium so far. During the 2022 monkeypox outbreak, homosexual men were at particular risk of the virus, which was initially spread in Europe due to sexual activity between men at raves in Spain and Belgium.
Monkeypox is also known as Mpox following a rebranding of the virus, as the name was considered “discriminatory and stigmatizing.”
