First known US case of person infected with new mpox strain reported
US health officials on Saturday reported the first known case of a person infected with the new mpox strain in the country.
The person received MPox during a trip to East Africa and was treated for a mild illness in San Mateo, California health officials. The person is isolating at home and recovering, and there is no evidence of mpox spreading in the United States.
The risk to the public remains low. Mpox is transmitted through close contact, including sexual contact, kissing, hugging or other skin-to-skin contact. Symptoms include blistered rashes, sores on the body, and flu-like symptoms, such as headaches, backaches, and muscle aches.
Mpox has been spreading in the US since 2022, when the World Health Organization (Who) declared a global health emergency due to the spread of the disease, which is endemic to Central and West Africa.
In August, Who declared a new global public health emergency due to a new variant of mpox known as clade Ib, which has spread mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and Burundi. More than 3,100 since the end of September fallen of mpox clade Ib have been reported worldwide.
The symptoms of the new strain appear to be more severe and more likely to lead to death. Mpox is still spreading at low levels in the US.
“Given the very low risk to the public from exposure to (the new mpox strain), existing guidelines for preventing mpox have not changed,” Dr. Kismet Baldwin-Santana, San Mateo County health officer, said in An statement.
Cases of travelers with the new variant have been reported in Thailand, Germany, India, Sweden and the UK. In Great Britain four individuals the same household has been confirmed to have the new strain – the only four known cases in the country.
There is a two-part vaccination to prevent MPox. The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has done that called up 10 million doses of the vaccine by 2025 in response to the epidemic, especially in the DRC. The DRC had about 30,000 suspected cases of MPOX and 859 deaths as of early October, representing 80% of all cases and 99% of all deaths in Africa this year.