The first case of infection with the new mpox variant was reported in Belgium. The patient from Wallonia became infected during his stay in one of the African countries. Although this variant is very contagious and deadly, the services have reassured that the risk of the virus spreading is very low.
As the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Belgian national health institute Sciensano reported on Tuesday, the patient from Wallonia became infected with the virus during sexual contact with a sick person showing symptoms in an African country.
The fourth country in Europe
After returning to the country, the man was diagnosed using a PCR test and isolated. It was established that after his return he had no close contact with anyone, so – as health organizations assured – the risk of the virus spreading in Belgium is very low.
A new variant, or clade I of mpox (formerly monkeypox), was recently discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since then, cases of this disease have been detected in three countries in Europe: Germany, Sweden and Great Britain, and outside the old continent in the United States and several Asian countries.
Global threat
Mpox is a viral disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans, as well as through intimate contact. It was first identified in laboratory monkeys in Denmark in 1958, hence its former name, although in Africa, where the virus is endemic, rodents are considered to be its main carriers. Symptoms of the disease include fever, muscle aches and rash.
Two strains of the virus are known. The milder, clade II MPXV, cases of which have been reported in over 100 countries, and the more deadly, already mentioned clade I. In August, the WHO declared mpox a global health threat
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