First US case of a dangerous new mpox strain detected in California

A traveller returning home to San Mateo found out they had contracted Clade 1 while visiting Africa

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US health officials reported the first case of a more aggressive mpox strain in California on Saturday.
The US government’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the strain, called Clade 1, was detected in a traveller who had visited east Africa.
The patient was being treated for mild illness and was in isolation at home in San Mateo, authorities said as they assured the public that the risk to the community remained low.  
“People who had close contact with this individual are being contacted by public health workers, but there is no concern or evidence that mpox clade I is currently spreading between individuals in California or the United States,” a statement from the California Department of Public Health read.
There are two major strains – or clades – of mpox, with Clade 1 separated into subclasses 1a and 1b. 
The WHO first declared a global health emergency over Clade 1b in November after it spread through African villages and killed hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 
It first emerged in September last year in sex workers in a Rwandan mining town and has since spread to more than 3,100 people worldwide.
The strain has recently been detected in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe.
A case was recorded in London last month and three more people have since tested positive in the UK. 
Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close contact. It was first identified at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen in 1958, when scientists noticed outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in monkeys being kept for research.
The first human case was not confirmed until 1970, when a nine-year-old boy living in the DRC  developed a nasty rash that reminded doctors of smallpox.
The Clade 1 strain is endemic to Central Africa and is the most deadly strain of the disease. Clade 2, responsible for the 2022 outbreak that spread globally, is endemic to West Africa. It is milder and less infectious and 99.9 per cent of people infected survive.
Clade 1b has a higher mortality rate  – thought to be as high as five per cent in adults and 10 per cent in children.
“Death rates are expected to be much lower in countries with stronger healthcare systems and treatment options, including the United States,” the CDC said in a statement on Saturday.
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