This Thursday, Sweden reported its first case of the new variant mpox The country’s Minister of Public Health and Social Affairs, Jakob Forsmed, said that it was detected outside the African continent.
In May 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced mpox It is no longer a public health emergency. A year later, this week, it did it again.
The new variant is ravaging the African continent and Sweden recorded, this Thursday, the first case in Europe.
“We have confirmed a case of the most extreme variant in Sweden mpox”, Forssmed assumed, at a press conference, as quoted by Reuters.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been particularly affected by this new public health crisis. Since the beginning of this year, 548 people have died due to monkey flu.
“Currently, all our provinces are affected by this virus,” Samuel-Roger Gamba, the DRC’s health minister, said in a video sent to France Presse (AFP). South Kivu, North Kivu, Tshobo, Equateur, Nord-Ubangi, Suaba, Mongala and Sanguru provinces will be most affected.
Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda also reported their first cases at the end of July.
This is the second time in three years that the World Health Organization has announced this mpox as a public health emergency.
The mpox It was first discovered in humans in the 1970s, now in the DRC, and the distribution of a subtype was initially limited to West and Central African countries, Lusa explains. In the 20th century, smaller outbreaks were recorded in the United States and the United Kingdom.
By 2022, the disease had spread globally, with nearly 100,000 cases and about 200 deaths worldwide, in the most severe outbreak. mpox Until then.
A recent outbreak involving a more virulent variant of the virus has now reached Europe.