Deadly mpox strain almost certainly in UK, says expert

A new, more deadly strain of mpox sweeping the world is highly likely to already be in the UK, a specialist in infectious diseases has warned. Professor Paul Hunter said mpox, which used to be called monkeypox, can spread very quickly between countries because it is a sexually transmitted infection. And he urged people at risk to get vaccinated against it or cut the number of sexual partners they have.

- JANE DALTON

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a public health emergency over an outbreak of the latest mpox variant in several African nations and one case in Sweden – the first confirmed case in Europe.

Prof Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, told The Independent about 180 infections of mpox had been found so far this year in the UK, but they have all been the earlier strain, known as clade 2. The latest variant, known as clade 1b, has a higher mortality rate in Africa, estimated at 4-10 per cent.

More than 17,000 cases have been confirmed across Africa after the disease emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The WHO says there have been 524 deaths in more than a dozen African countries this year – a death toll already higher than all of last year. The incubation period is officially described as about two weeks.