Two new cases of the version of mpox that has fueled a deadly outbreak in central Africa have been detected in Britain, according to the country’s health authorities. But the authorities say that the overall risk of a rapid spread in the country remains low.
Both people had been in close contact with someone in Britain who was confirmed last week to have the virus, and an mpox vaccine has been made available to all three infected people, the United Kingdom Health Security Agency said in a statement on Monday. The three are being treated at London hospitals, the agency said.
“Mpox is very infectious in households with close contact, and so it is not unexpected to see further cases within the same household,” Susan Hopkins, the agency’s chief medical adviser, said in the statement.
The disease, formerly known as monkeypox, has been endemic in West and Central Africa for more than 50 years. A wider outbreak occurred in 2022, with the illness spreading to Europe, the United States and other parts of the world.
That outbreak began to wane last year, and a low number of mpox cases have circulated in Britain and elsewhere in Europe since then. But the type of mpox confirmed in the three new cases presents a greater threat.
A subtype known as Clade Ia has led to the infection of more than 30,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and at least 990 deaths since the start of the year, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. More than half of Congo’s new mpox cases overall are among children, according to UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency.
The version detected in the patients in Britain, known as Clade Ib, is considered more of a threat because it appears to be able to spread among people, including through household contact and sexual transmission, while Clade Ia is largely acquired from contact with infected animals or by eating contaminated meat.
The first symptom of the disease, which is closely related to smallpox, is usually a rash that can develop into blisters, according to the W.H.O. Patients typically also experience muscle pain, fever and headaches.
The first European case of the more threatening type of mpox was detected in Sweden in August. Last month, Germany confirmed a case in a person who had traveled to an affected area of Africa, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said. In both countries, no new cases of Clade I mpox have since been reported, the center said last week.
The person found to have mpox in Britain last week had also traveled to affected countries in Africa, the Health Security Agency said.
Since the start of this year, Europe has recorded more than 28,000 mpox cases overall, according to the E.C.D.C. and the W.H.O. Most of those cases were identified as the version of mpox that drove the 2022 outbreak.
That version, known as Clade IIb, predominantly spread through sexual contact, and men who had sex with men were the most at-risk population. The outbreak waned because of the distribution of vaccines and behavioral changes.
Most people who contract mpox “typically have a mild or self-limiting illness from which they will fully recover” if they have access to specialist care and vaccines, Michael Marks, a professor of medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said in a statement.
“Although the Clade I mpox viruses appear to cause slightly more serious illness, overall, outcomes for most people are good,” he said.
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