New mpox variant detected in Germany: health authority

An infection with the new mpox variant clade 1b has been detected in Germany for the first time, the Robert Koch Institute health authority said on Tuesday.

The infection occurred abroad and was detected last Friday, the institute said, adding that it did not see an increased risk for Germany but was “monitoring the situation very closely”.

Mpox, a viral disease related to smallpox that causes fever, body aches, swollen lymph nodes and a rash that forms into blisters, has two main subtypes — clade 1 and clade 2.

From May 2022, clade 2 spread around the world, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men in Europe and the United States. In July 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an international public health emergency, its highest level of alarm over the spread.

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

But this year, a new epidemic has broken out in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As well as clade 1, which mainly affects children, a new strain emerged in the DRC, called clade 1b.

Clade 1b cases have also been recorded in nearby Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda — none of which had previously detected mpox. The WHO declared another international emergency in August.

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