A high-risk mpox variant has made its way to Britain creating a new health-care challenge. The UK Health Security Agency confirmed that a person who came back from Africa is now in a special-care unit at the Royal Free Hospital (the same place that dealt with Ebola patients about 9 years ago)
This new type called clade 1b mpox isnt like the old ones we saw here since 22ʼ - its much worse. The disease spreads through close contact and shows up as bumpy skin spots; fever and body pain are common too. For pregnant women its extra risky cause it might lead to losing the baby
The outbreak started in Democratic Republic of Congo last yr killing more than 1‚000 people out of 25k infected. Since then its been moving fast:
- Sweden got cases
- Germany reported infections
- India found patients
- Thailand confirmed presence
Wes Streeting Health Secretary says: “Weʼre keeping the risk low and working hard to stop it from spreading“. The government got vaccines ready and made sure doctors know what to do
In Congo where it all began things arent great - even with help from US EU and Japan theres only enough shots for 265k people in a country of 100mil. The vaccination program just started this month but its moving slower than planned
The patient (whos details stay private) visited places in Africa where this mpox type is common. Health experts are now studying this case to learn more about how bad it is and how to stop it spreading