Sweden confirmed its first case of mpox on Thursday, marking the first instance of the viral infection outside Africa. This announcement came a day after the World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years.
Olivia Wigzell, director-general of the Swedish Public Health Agency, explained that the infected individual had contracted the virus while in a region of Africa experiencing a significant outbreak.
The WHO’s declaration followed a spread of a more severe form of mpox, known as Clade I, from an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries.
Health and Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed confirmed that the case in Sweden is of the more serious Clade I variety. He noted that the infected person had been treated according to health agency guidelines.
Wigzell added that this is the first case of mpox Clade I diagnosed outside Africa, with the individual contracting the virus during their stay in a high outbreak area of the continent.
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