Unusual Spread of Mutant M-Pox... First Confirmed Case Reported in Germany

Detection of Subclade 1b Type

As the mutated Mpox (MPOX, formerly known as monkeypox) spreads mainly across Africa, the first confirmed case has also been reported in Germany.

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On the 22nd, Germany's disease control authority, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), announced that the clade 1b virus was detected in an Mpox patient confirmed on the 18th (local time).

The institute stated that the patient was infected abroad and said, "We do not consider the risk of spread within Germany to have increased."

Clade 1b is a new variant of the Mpox virus with a relatively high fatality rate and rapid transmission speed, which has rapidly spread in the African region. Outside Africa, it was first detected in mid-August in Sweden.

Norwegian health authorities also announced on the same day that one Mpox infection case was confirmed. This patient was infected with clade 2 virus, which causes milder symptoms than clade 1b.

Meanwhile, as the mutated Mpox outbreak intensifies, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an international public health emergency (PHEIC), the highest level of health alert, in August. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of Mpox deaths on the African continent has reached 1,100 as of the 17th of this year.