On Thursday, August 15, the Swedish Public Health Agency announced that the infected individual in Stockholm was diagnosed with the Clade 1b subclade of mpox. This strain has been linked to a significant increase in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since September 2023.
The agency stated, “A person who sought medical care in Stockholm has been diagnosed with mpox caused by the Clade I variant. This is the first case of the Clade I variant identified outside of Africa.”
State epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen reported that the patient contracted the virus during a visit to an area in Africa experiencing a major outbreak of the Clade I variant. The patient has since been treated in Sweden.
The Swedish Public Health Agency reassured the public that Sweden is equipped to diagnose, isolate, and treat mpox cases, and emphasized that this case does not pose a significant risk to the general population. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently assesses the risk to the public as very low.
The outbreak in the DRC has been severe, with 548 deaths reported since the beginning of the year. On August 14, the WHO declared the situation in the DRC and neighboring countries a public health emergency of international concern.
Monkeypox was first identified in humans in 1970 in what is now the DRC. The virus is transmitted from infected animals to humans and can also spread through close physical contact. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and large, boil-like skin lesions.
