New monkeypox strain found as virus mutates

A man has been hospitalised with a third strain of monkeypox as the virus passes 50,000 cases and 16 deaths worldwide.

AFP

A new strain of monkeypox has been found in the United Kingdom after a traveller returned from West Africa.

There are now three distinct variants of the virus circulating after UK health officials confirmed the unidentified person man who travelled to West Africa was hospitalised with the new strain.

It comes as the World Health Organisation announced the global outbreak had passed 50,000 and 16 deaths.

It is unknown if the new strain is more or less deadly and virulent than the original version, known as the Congo Basin clade, and the West African clade that followed.

The UK Health Security Agency said contact tracing was underway to find any linked cases of the third variant, but none had been found so far.

People line up to receive monkeypox vaccinations at Guys Hospital in London, England. Picture: Getty Images

“We are working to contact the individuals who had close contact with the case prior to confirmation of their infection, to assess them as necessary and provide advice,” the agency’s incident director, Dr Sophia Maki, said.

She added the risk to the public is “very low” due to “well-established and robust” infection control procedures, which will be strictly followed.

While the virus has forked off into a third strain, the pace of new infection transmission had slowed in the two hot spots of the United States and Europe.

Cases have been found in 101 territories, with the most in the United States (17,994), Spain (6,543), Brazil (4,693), France (3,547), Germany (3,467), Britain (3,413), Peru (1,463), Canada (1,228) and the Netherlands (1,160).

The total number of deaths reached 16 after a Belgium man “with underlying health conditions” died this week. The vast majority of cases are among gay and bisexual men with symptoms including fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, according to Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead on monkeypox.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Americas accounts for more than half of reported cases.

“Several countries continue to see increasing numbers of infections, although it is encouraging to see a sustained downward trend in Canada,” he told a press conference.

“Some European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, are also seeing a clear slowing of the outbreak, demonstrating the effectiveness of public health interventions and community engagement to track infections and prevent transmission.

“These signs confirm what we have said consistently since the beginning: that with the right measures, this is an outbreak that can be stopped.”

“We don’t have to live with monkeypox.”

Originally published as New monkeypox strain found as virus mutates