A FRESH case of the mutant strain of mpox has been detected in England in a person with no travel history or links to other cases.
The new case raises fears the clade 1b variant silently running rampant in UK.
Health chiefs insist the risk to the British public “remains low”.
The unnamed person from the North East of England is the 12th confirmed victim of the new variant in the UK.
All 11 previous cases were in people who had either recently returned from Africa or been in close contact with someone who had.
“The detection of clade 1b mpox in the UK without any known travel history or reported links to prior confirmed cases is concerning because it suggests possible undetected community transmission,” Dr Krutika Kuppalli, associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern, told The Telegraph.
“This means the virus may already be circulating locally, beyond the scope of current surveillance efforts.”;
“It also raises concerns about the potential for undetected spread amongst asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic individuals,”; Dr Kuppalli added.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Monday said it had launched an investigation to understand how the person caught the virus.
The agency said the person, who has not been identified, was diagnosed with clade 1b mpox in March. No other cases have yet been identified.
