Sweden has received a first case of the new variant of the disease mpox. The Public Health Authority announced this on Thursday.
The World Health Organization, WHO, decided yesterday that the spread of the new virus variant of mpox (called mpox clade I) should be classified as an international threat to human health. This after the new variant of the virus took hold in several African countries. According to the Public Health Agency, the case in Sweden is the first of the new variant to be diagnosed outside the African continent. The authority says at a press conference that it assesses that the risk of spread in society is small in Sweden.
– It concerns a person who has been infected during a stay in a part of Africa where there is an ongoing spread of mpox clade I. The person in Sweden who has been confirmed to be infected has received care and rules of conduct, says Magnus Gisslén, state epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency at the agency’s website.
The new variant of mpox is believed to have a more serious course and higher mortality than the variant that existed in Sweden before. Another difference is that more children and young people have been affected by clade I.
The Public Health Agency writes that Sweden has a preparedness to diagnose, isolate and care for people with mpox in a safe way. The fact that a patient with mpox is treated in the country does not affect the risk to the population at large.
However, occasional new cases that come via travelers from other countries may also occur in the future.
The European infection control authority ECDC has assessed the risk of the new virus variant spreading within the EU as low, but a new assessment is expected shortly.
About mpox
Mpox is an infectious disease that can cause blisters or sores and sometimes also fever, headache or other symptoms. The blisters can appear in different places on the body. The disease is a so-called zoonosis and the virus was first found among monkeys. That is why mpox was initially called monkeypox in Sweden. Mpox is classified as a disease of general danger and is part of the Infection Control Act. This means that you must seek care if you think you have contracted mpox. Vaccine is available against mpox.
The virus is mainly found in the liquid in the bladders of the sick person, but can also be transmitted via mucous membranes, body fluids and the respiratory tract. The virus can therefore be spread through sexual contact or other close contact, for example via childbirth if the mother is infected. It can also happen that you become infected by, for example, sleeping in the same bedclothes as someone who is infected, but this is rare.
According to the Public Health Agency, approximately 300 people in Sweden have had mpox since 2022. This refers to the variant known as clade IIb. In several African countries, another variant called clade I is spreading right now, which is therefore considered more serious than the previous one. It is the new variant clade I that a person in Sweden has now contracted.
