Sweden has confirmed the first case of the highly infectious and dangerous Clade 1b subclade of mpox outside Africa, prompting concerns about the global spread of the virus.

The country’s public health agency announced on Thursday that a person in Stockholm had been diagnosed with the variant, which has been declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to state epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen, the individual contracted the virus during a visit to an area in Africa where a major outbreak of the Clade 1b subclade is ongoing.

This marks the first time the variant has been detected outside the African continent.

The public health agency emphasized that the diagnosis was confirmed to be caused by the Clade I variant, which is considered more dangerous than other strains of mpox.

The patient “has received care,” Gisslen said. The agency added that Sweden “has a preparedness to diagnose, isolate and treat people with mpox safely.”

“The fact that a patient with mpox is treated in the country does not affect the risk to the general population, a risk that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers very low,” it said.

The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 548 people since the start of the year.

WHO declared the outbreak in the DRC and neighbouring countries a public health emergency of international concern on Wednesday.

Formerly called monkeypox, the virus was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what is now the DRC.

It is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

The disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

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