The British Health Security Agency (UKHSA) indicated on Monday (8) that a new variant of Mpox was identified in England in a person who had recently traveled to Asia. In a note, the agency indicates that it continues to assess the importance of the variant, which combines the characteristics of the two subtypes of the infection: clade 1, more serious, and clade 2, at the origin of the global epidemic which began in 2022. Global smallpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox. It mainly manifests itself as high fever and the appearance of skin lesions, and can be fatal.
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“Our genomic testing allowed us to detect this new variant,” Katy Sinka, head of sexually transmitted infections at UKHSA, said in a statement.
“Although infection with the Mpox virus is mild for many, it can be serious,” stressed Katy Sinka, recalling that vaccination is “an effective way to protect against serious forms of the disease”.
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In September, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the infection no longer constituted an international health emergency, arguing among other things the decrease in deaths and cases in several African countries. A state of emergency had been declared a year earlier.
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First identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, Mpox remained confined for a long time in certain African countries.
However, in 2022, it began to spread to the rest of the world, particularly to developed countries where the virus had never circulated.
Remember the cases of Mpox in the USA
In October, three California residents who had not traveled abroad were infected with Mpox Clade 1. It was the first time the more virulent form had spread in the United States, health officials said at the time.
The type, known as Clade 1, has circulated widely in central and eastern Africa, causing tens of thousands of infections and hundreds of deaths. Clade 2, which swept the United States in 2021 and sickened 30,000 people, causes less severe illness and continues to circulate in the United States at low levels, but infections have increased in several cities since the summer.
Both subtypes of mpox can be transmitted through close contact, within the home, or by sharing personal items. Signs of the disease often begin with flu-like symptoms, followed by rashes and sores that can be extremely painful.
Because the virus can incubate for up to three weeks without causing symptoms, infected people can pass it on to other people without knowing it. Men who have sex with men are at higher risk of infection, and for those who are untreated with HIV, Mpox can be fatal.
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