A new case of the monkeypox strain causing global alarm has been found in the UK, health officials have confirmed.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the patient was found in East Sussex but was now under specialist care at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London.
They said the patient — the sixth UK case of the deadly strain to date — had recently returned to Britain from Uganda where the virus is spreading amongst the population.
Health officials said they wouldn’t be releasing any further details about the patient.
However, they added potential close contacts of the patient who may have been exposed to the virus are being tracked.
These contacts will be offered testing and treatment if needed.
The first British case of the new strain, detected on 30 October, was also found in person traveling to the UK from Africa and led to three other cases within the same household.
The fifth case, in November, was also from another imported travel-related case.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the patient was found East Sussex but was now under specialist care at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London
It takes the total number of confirmed cases in Britain now to six.
UKHSA said the ongoing risk of the virus to the public remained ‘low’, and that cases linked to Africa were to be expected.
Dr Meera Chand, Deputy Director at UKHSA, said: ‘It is thanks to clinicians rapidly recognising the symptoms and the work of our specialist laboratory that we have been able to detect this new case.
‘The risk to the UK population remains low following this sixth case, and we are working rapidly to trace close contacts and reduce the risk of any potential spread.’
The new strain of mpox, called Clade 1b, has swept through central Africa killing at least 1,000 people, since the outbreak began.
The strain is estimated to kill about 5 per cent of adults who contract it, but the mortality rate rises to one in 10 in children.
It is considered far deadlier than the clade 2 strain which spread globally in 2022 and primarily hit gay and bisexual men, and which only killed about one in every 500 people that caught it.
Experts say fatality rates of clade 1b from central Africa are unlikely to be replicated in developed nations like the UK due to better access to higher quality healthcare.
Common symptoms of mpox include a skin rash or pus-filled lesions which can last two to four weeks.
In a small number of cases, the infection can enter the blood and lungs, as well as other parts of the body like the brain which causes it to become life-threatening.
The infection is mainly passed through close person-to-person contact with someone who is infected or through contact with contaminated materials such as bed sheets.
Anyone with symptoms should continue to avoid contact with other people while symptoms persist.
It can also cause fever, headaches, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.
Current mpox vaccines, are designed to work on smallpox a close relative of the mpox virus.
