British health officials say they have identified four cases of the new, highly infectious version of mpox that first appeared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The announcement marks the first time the variant has caused a group of illnesses outside of Africa. Scientists said the risk to the public remains low.
Officials announced the first case of the new form of mpox in Britain last week. Officials said the person who was being treated at a London hospital had recently travelled to countries in Africa with ongoing outbreaks.
This week, the British Health Security Agency said it had now identified three additional cases. All of them lived in the same household as the first patient. The new cases are also being treated at a hospital in London.
Susan Hopkins is chief medical advisor of the British Health Security Agency. She said, “Mpox is very infectious in households with close contact and so it is not unexpected to see further cases within the same household."
The new variant of mpox was first reported earlier this year in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the DRC. Scientists believe it causes milder symptoms that are harder to notice. As a result, it might be easier to spread because people may not know they are infected. Its spread in the DRC and in other parts of Africa caused the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in August.
Britain recorded more than 3,000 cases of another version of mpox during a 2022 outbreak that affected more than 100 countries.
The new variant of mpox has also caused outbreaks in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Single cases in travelers have also been reported in Sweden, India, Germany and Thailand.
To date, there have been about 43,000 suspect cases of mpox in Africa, including more than 1,000 deaths, mostly in the DRC.
On Wednesday, the WHO said it had given about 900,000 vaccine doses to nine African countries struggling with mpox epidemics.
I’m John Russell.
