Sweden’s public health agency says this is the first case of a more dangerous type of ampox outside the African continent.

The agency said the man became infected while living in an area of ​​Africa that is currently experiencing a major outbreak of ampox clade 1.

The news comes just hours after the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that the ampox outbreak in parts of Africa was over. Public health emergency It is a matter of international concern.

At least 450 people died during the initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the disease spread to areas of central and eastern Africa.

According to Olivia Wigzell, the acting head of the Swedish Public Health Agency, the infected person had sought treatment in the Stockholm region and the fact that they were receiving treatment in Sweden did not mean there was any risk to the wider population.

“The affected person also got infected while staying in an area of ​​Africa where there is a large outbreak of ampox clade 1,” he told a press conference.

Ampox, formerly known as monkeypox, is spread through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact, and talking or breathing close to another person.

It can cause flu-like symptoms, skin lesions and can be fatal, causing death in four out of 100 cases. It is most common in the tropical rainforests of western and central Africa and thousands of people are infected each year.

There are currently several outbreaks of ampox occurring simultaneously, partly caused by a new, more severe variant of clade 1b, which was identified in September last year.

There are two types of clade 1, and the Swedish case has been identified as belonging to clade 1b. Since ampoxe clade 1b was first seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo, cases have been confirmed in Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda before the new case identified in Sweden.

Although clade 2 did cause a public health emergency in 2022, it was relatively mild and around 300 cases have already been identified in Sweden.

WHO/Europe said it was “actively engaging with Swedish health authorities on how to best manage the first confirmed case of ampox clade 1b”.

It urged other countries to act quickly and transparently like Sweden, as “further imported cases of Clade 1 are likely to emerge in the European region in the coming days and weeks.”

Swedish public health agency said more dangerous outbreak This is likely associated with “an increase in the incidence of more severe disease and higher mortality rates”.,

Dr. Jonas Albernaz, an expert on the smallpox virus at the Pirbright Institute, said the first case outside Africa was worrying because it meant the spread “could be higher than it was yesterday.”

Dr. Brian Ferguson, an associate professor of immunology at the University of Cambridge, agreed that it was “clearly a worrying development” but not surprising given the severity and spread of the outbreak in Africa.

The World Health Organization hopes that its latest declaration that ampox is a public health emergency of international concern will lead to greater assistance to the worst-affected areas.

Vaccines are available for those most at risk or those who have come into close contact with an infected person, but many experts worry there aren’t enough vaccines or funding to get vaccines to those who need them most.

Because of the high quality of healthcare in Europe, mortality rates from the Clade 1b variant in Sweden will not be as high as in parts of Africa.

However, Dr Ferguson said cases were likely to appear in Europe and other parts of the world, “as there are currently no mechanisms in place to prevent imported cases of ampox.”

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said symptoms typically appear 6-13 days after infection in the form of fever, headache, rashes or lesions, and muscle aches.

Most people experienced mild to moderate symptoms followed by full recovery, but those with weakened immunity were at higher risk.

Although news of the first case outside Africa may be a cause for concern, it was expected.

As other disease outbreaks have shown, swift international action can help prevent the disease from spreading further.