Germany Reports Its First Case of Virulent New Monkeypox Variant
Monkeypox has also spread to Zambia and Zimbabwe, through the particular strains were not reported in those cases.
We have been following the spread of the virulent new monkeypox variant (i.e., mpox clade) that is at the center of a significant outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighboring countries.
In addition to central Africa, the new strain (which is more easily transmissible by skin contact and causes more severe infections) has been reported in Sweden and Thailand.
Now a case has been reported in Germany.
The patient is a 33-year-old man who was isolated after being admitted to hospital for treatment on Oct. 12, the health ministry in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said.
The case was detected in Cologne, the ministry said in a statement.
The results of more detailed testing showed on Oct. 18 that the patient had the clade 1b variant, a new form of the virus that is linked to a global health emergency declared by the World Health Organization in August.
The current outbreak originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has spread to neighbouring countries.
The patient in Germany is thought to have picked up the virus in an east African country, the state ministry said.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is closely monitoring the situation and asserts the risk to Europeans is low.
The first case of the new variant, called clade 1b, was previously identified in Sweden in August. No other cases have been reported in Europe, though the ECDC said at the time it was likely there would be more imported cases because of travel between Europe and Africa.
Despite the low risk to the public, the ECDC said European countries should adopt “enhanced preparedness, continued vigilance and rapid implementation of control measures upon case detection” to prevent further spread.
As of mid-October 2024, over 42,000 monkeypox cases (of all strains) and nearly 1,000 deaths have been reported in 18 African countries.
Despite the WHO-led vaccination campaign directly to containing the outbreak in central Africa, monkeypox is still spreading through the region.
Zambia reported its first confirmed case of monkeypox in mid-October. The patient was a 32-year-old male who had traveled from Tanzania to Zambia. The strain he was infected with is not reported.
Zambia’s first mpox case was detected in a 32-year-old Tanzanian national who arrived in Zambia in early September, before travelling around the southern African country and developing symptoms including muscle aches, fatigue and a sore throat on Oct. 2.
“Given the patient’s extensive travel history and interactions at multiple points in Zambia, there is heightened risk of local transmission and potential cross-border spread,” the health ministry said in a statement, adding that contact tracing was underway.
The male patient is being treated at a rural health centre.
“We have intensified risk communication and community engagement in all the areas that the individual had passed through since he entered Zambia. Our surveillance and response teams across the country remain on high alert for any further cases of mpox,” the health ministry statement added.
The virus is now spreading farther south into Africa, with two cases being reported in Zimbabwe.
The cases in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare and in the southern town of Mberengwa, were detected in a child who developed symptoms last month after travelling to South Africa, and in a 24-year-old man who became ill after traveling to Tanzania, the health ministry said in a statement, without identifying which variants had been recorded.
Both patients are recovering and contact tracing is underway, said the statement signed by Health Minister Douglas Mombeshora, who said the “situation is under control” and urged the public “not to panic”.
Zimbabwe also did not specify the variants causing infection. The health experts in the region emphasize the need for:
- Robust case management
- Continued health awareness campaigns
- Upscaled testing, surveillance, and contact tracing
- Tightened border screening
It’s probably best for Africans not to rely on vaccines to get them free from this outbreak.
On Friday, the DRC Ministry of Public Health warned that the vaccine campaign would be limited due to few resources. So far, only 265,000 doses are available.
“As you can imagine, in a country of 100 million people, we’re not going to solve the problem with 265,000 doses,” Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba told a news conference on Friday.
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Comments
Gee, wonder if there is a way to keep this from spreading so it burns itself out?/
Diversity (of Tropical Diseases) is Our Strength!
When Trump retakes office, he should pun a ban on travel from countries whose names begin with Z.
Hey, it’s BIAS-FREE, like the Boston School Board ZIP Code quota program!
Africa protected itself from invasion with diseases.
Africans started exporting disease in the 1600s.
Understand what they’re saying–
The patient in Germany is a gay man who had sex with a visibly infected African man.
Because it spreads from the sores.
Why are we acting like this could become an epidemic?
>>Why are we acting like this could become an epidemic?<<
Because Pfizer™️ is no longer making an obscene profit on their covid mRNA serum and they have to gin up something as the next big disease and threat to humanity so they can force citizens to get the jab for their new Monkeypox mRNA serum to improve their bottom line profits.
couldnt be done without the approval of the government
biden trump neo cons swamp etc
That’s not clear. They talk a lot now about just plain “skin contact” rather than intimate contact. Is there a significant difference, or are they just hiding the truth by using phrases less likely to get them mocked?
I’m sure the ambiguity is by design, and I’d lay odds that it’s the latter rather than the former.
I’m holding out for the arrival of Banana Slug Fever.
Ted Nugent is recording it with his band as we speak.
What do they call it in German?
Bananenschnecken-Fieber.
I was hoping it would be a comeback hit for Bananarama.
But it would still have a peel as a cover tune.
see,,in the woke world
its ok or in fact GOOD when a non white race brings diseases
b/c its always the white mans colonization that caused it
So what lab in China made the improved version of Monkey Pox?
and how did we channel the money to pay them to do it?
(forgot to put that in the first post)
Sigh. I’m so old, I remember when governments used biological weapons against their enemies.
“Interactions at multiple points” ROFL
Still not calling it a sexually transmitted disease of homosexual men, eh?
Because then, I suppose, they would have to discuss how those kids and dogs got infected.
its a world wide crisis w/o the governments calling out to stop the actions that cause/help spread the disease
Is there any evidence that the “vaccine” works?
And………………who cares?
Monkeypox is spreading too slowly, and it looks like Bird Flu isn’t going to become human-human transmissible. They are going to have to engineer a COVID-MERS hybrid to get a new pandemic off the ground.
Sweet Microbe Of Death…