An infection with the new, more contagious variant of the mpox virus has been reported in Belgium for the first time, according to the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and health institute Sciensano.
The patient in question reportedly had sexual contact with a person who showed symptoms of the virus in Africa. The person then isolated himself before being diagnosed. "Given the measures taken by Belgium, the risk to the general population remains low," the ECDC said.
According to Sciensano, the case involves a patient from Wallonia who was diagnosed with the mpox variant following a specific PCR test. The person did not have high-risk contacts after exposure and went into isolation from the moment he returned to Belgium.
The new variant ('clade I-mpox') was recently found for the first time in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya. Earlier, it also appeared in Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and several Asian countries. Belgium is the eighth non-African country where an infection is detected.
Mpox is a viral disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans but is also spread through close physical contact. The disease causes fever, muscle pain and skin rash.
As the disease was first identified in Danish laboratory monkeys in 1958, it was called monkeypox until recently. However, in areas where the virus circulates naturally, such as Africa, rodents are the main carriers.
