Expert warns deadlier variant of mpox disease is likely already in the country

A health expert has warned that a deadlier variant of the disease known as mpox is likely already in the UK somewhere.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared a global emergency over the spread of mpox, a disease which is considered to be a less severe version of smallpox.

While originally transmitted from animals to humans, mpox can now be spread from person to person contact and through contaminated items such as infected clothing and bedding.

Symptoms of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, usually present themselves about a week after transmission and the infection can last in the body for between 14 and 21 days.

Those symptoms commonly include a rash, fever, sore throat, headache, aching muscles, back pain, swollen lymph nodes and a feeling of low energy.

The WHO declared a global emergency over this new, more deadly strain of mpox. (GUERCHOM NDEBO/AFP via Getty Images)

In more serious cases, the patient can break out in lesions across the body and they will remain infectious until their skin has completely healed.

The UK is preparing for the first mpox cases, while Sweden is the first European country to confirm a case of the new and more contagious strain of the disease.

Virologist Dr Cheryl Walter told LADbible that we're not currently at risk of going into another lockdown as we did during the coronavirus pandemic.

She noted that unlike when Covid first hit we do have vaccines and medications to use against mpox, but that it was a 'very dangerous variant that's circulating'.

Dr Walter explained that this new variant, the Clade 1b strain of mpox, did seem to be 'far more deadly' with a case fatality rate of between three and four percent.

Health experts have said this variant is likely already in the UK, but we won't know for sure until someone with it seeks treatment. (Getty Stock Photo)

Speaking to Sky News, infectious diseases expert Professor Paul Hunter warned that it was 'very likely' that someone in the UK already had this variant.

The current outbreak which has spread to at least 13 African countries with cases confirmed in Pakistan and Sweden.

In Africa, there have been over 15,000 reported cases and more than 530 deaths.

Professor Hunter said that in the likely event that someone in the UK did have this mpox variant they probably wouldn't know until they actually visited a doctor and got tested.

He said: "When someone gets an infection it typically takes several days before they develop the classic appearance that would make people think 'oh, this is mpox'.

"Then it can take longer before the samples are taken and sent to the lab, it's identified as mpox and sent for sequencing so we know which clade of mpox it is."