China confirms first case of new variant of mpox (monkeypox) abroad: this is known

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention today confirmed the first case of the new variant mpox clade Ib (formerly known as monkeypox
), whose origin can be traced back to a foreign citizen with a history of travel and residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to the CDC, cities such as Beijing and Tianjin (north) and provinces such as Canton (southeast) and Zhejiang (east) activated a joint prevention and control mechanism for epidemiological tracing, finding four more cases in infected people after close contact with a foreigner.

“They present symptoms such as rash and herpes, which are relatively mild. Infected people are receiving medical treatment and health observation. The epidemic is being controlled effectively,” the center says in a brief statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared an international health emergency due to the spread of monkeypox, especially in Africa, where thousands of infections and hundreds of deaths have been recorded.

Just two days later, the Chinese authorities announced the reinforcement of surveillance measures on their borders for six months to prevent the entry of the virus, forcing all aircraft and vessels coming from areas affected by the disease to comply with sanitary measures.

Controls focus on the detection of symptoms such as fever, headache and skin rashes in travelers. Likewise, exhaustive health inspections are carried out on vehicles, containers and merchandise coming from affected areas.

On the other hand, the Chinese authorities gave the green light last summer to the commercialization of the first test kit developed nationally for mpox. The Asian country is also developing a vaccine against this disease, which is already in the clinical research stage.

Sweden confirmed the first case of the clade 1b out of Africa on August 15. Thailand confirmed the first case recorded in Asia on August 22.

The WHO alarm last summer focused on the rapid expansion and high mortality in Africa of this new variant (clade Ib), of which several cases have been identified outside the continent in people who traveled to areas of Africa.

This variant differs from clade II, which caused a violent outbreak in Africa in 2022, as well as hundreds of cases in Europe, North America and countries in other regions, and already led to the declaration of the international health emergency between 2022 and 2023.

Mpox is an infectious disease that can cause painful rash, swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain and lack of energy.