Mpox: Germany reports first case of new variant

Two people in Norway also diagnosed with different strain of the virus

Mpox viral particles. The disease is spread mainly through close contact with infected people. Reuters

Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for public health reported the country's first case of a new mpox variant on Tuesday.

A 33-year-old man was admitted to hospital for treatment and isolated on October 12, the Health Ministry in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said.

The ministry said the case was detected in Cologne.

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The results of more detailed testing showed on October 18 that the man had the clade 1b variant, a new form of the virus linked to a global health emergency declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in August. The current outbreak originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has spread to neighbouring countries.

The man in Germany is thought to have picked up the virus in an east African country, the ministry said. The RKI said it "currently considers the risk to the health of the general population in Germany to be low" but it was monitoring the situation closely and would adapt if necessary.

Two patients in Norway have been diagnosed with the clade 2 variety of the mpox virus, the Oslo municipality said on Tuesday.

A statement said authorities were investigating whether there is a connection between the two cases.

Clade 2 is a less severe form of mpox than the clade 1b strain.

Scientists this year reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in the DRC that may cause milder symptoms but spreads more easily. So far the vast majority of cases have been reported in the country.

Outbreaks of mpox are currently affecting 18 out of 55 countries in Africa and officials there reported there had been 1,000 deaths as of last week.

The total number of suspected cases in Africa since the beginning of the year stands at 42,438, with 8,113 confirmed as mpox, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Mpox is spread mainly through close contact with infected people. Also known as monkeypox, it belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms such as fever, chills and body aches.

People with more serious cases can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.

The first sign of the virus spreading outside Africa came on August 15 when global health officials confirmed an infection with a new strain of the mpox virus in Sweden.