A more contagious type of monkeypox has emerged in the United Kingdom. The new variant, which belongs to branch 1b, spreads more easily from person to person. The World Health Organization declared a global emergency in the summer.
The British patient had recently been on holiday in at least one of the affected African countries and fell ill 24 hours after returning to his home country. On October 22, he developed flu-like symptoms, followed by a rash two days later. The patient is being treated in a London hospital – he wrote BBC.
Smallpox, or monkeypox as it is more commonly known, can last up to a month and is accompanied by fever, headache, fatigue, and purulent lesions. Laboratory tests confirmed that the patient may be infected with a new variant belonging to branch 1B.
This type of monkeypox spreads most easily through physical contact, primarily through sexual contact. Cases of this variant have been reported in Africa from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, and Rwanda.
Clade 1b has a milder route than variant 1a, which is spread primarily by contact with infected animals. The British patient is being examined to determine who he has been in contact with in the recent period, but it is assumed that he had direct contact with less than ten people.
This is the first time we have discovered this type of smallpox in the United Kingdom
– said Professor Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Advisor to the UK Health Safety Agency. “The risk to the general UK public remains low and we are working quickly to trace close contacts and reduce the risk of potential spread.”
Previously, patients infected with this variant have been found in Sweden, India and Germany.
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