UK cases of deadly new mpox variant rise to 4

The United Kingdom today reported an additional case of the new variant of mpox, an infectious viral disease that can cause high fever, a painful rash and death, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to four.
The new infection was among the household contacts of the country’s first confirmed case detected in London on Oct. 30, a person who had recently traveled to affected countries in Africa, the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.
Since then, there have been a total of three locally transmitted cases — including the most recent one reported today.
UKHSA said the patient is currently under specialist care and “the risk to the U.K. population remains low.”
“Mpox is very infectious in households with close contact and so it is not unexpected to see further cases within the same household,” Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser at UKHSA, said.
There have been just a handful of cases reported in Europe of mpox clade Ib, a new deadly variant of mpox that has caused a deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries. Sweden and Germany have both reported individual cases.