China - CDC statement on cluster of 5 clade 1b Mpox cases including a non-citizen with travel history to DRC - January 9, 2025

[tetano]

HONG KONG, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Chinese health authorities said on Thursday they had detected the new mutated mpox strain clade Ib as the viral infection spreads to more countries after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency last year.

China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said it had found a cluster outbreak of the Ib subclade that started with the infection a foreigner who has a history of travel and residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.



Four further cases have been found in people infected after close contact with the foreigner. The patients' symptoms are mild and include skin rash and blisters.

Mpox spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. Although usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases.

WHO last August declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that spread to neighbouring countries.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/china-discovers-cluster-new-mpox-strain-2025-01-09/

[Michael Coston]

(translated) Statement from China CDC

https://www.chinacdc.cn/jkkp/crb/ycr...09_303769.html

A cluster outbreak of monkeypox virus subclade Ib was discovered in my country

Date: 2025-01-09

Recently, a cluster outbreak of monkeypox virus subclade Ib was discovered in my country. The source of infection was a foreigner with a history of living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After the outbreak was discovered, the state and provinces (cities) such as Zhejiang, Guangdong, Beijing, and Tianjin quickly launched a joint prevention and control mechanism to carry out epidemiological investigation and tracing, risk investigation, case diagnosis and treatment, and other work.

Four related cases were found among close contacts, all of which were infected after close contact. The related cases mainly showed symptoms such as rash and herpes, and the symptoms were relatively mild. At present, no infected persons have been found among general contacts. The related infected persons and risk persons are receiving medical treatment and health observation, and the epidemic has been effectively handled.

Related link: Questions and answers on prevention and control of monkeypox virus subclade Ib