The United Kingdom has confirmed the country’s first four mpox cases. The latest three cases are household members of the first UK resident with mpox. This first patient became infected when visiting certain African countries with ongoing mpox outbreaks. The ongoing spread of the virus in the Congo, as well as some other countries, prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global health emergency this past August.
The current outbreaks are fueled partly by a new strain that is more contagious than the one that caused the last major international mpox epidemic in 2022. The 2022 outbreaks hit over 100 countries, and caused thousands of cases both in the UK and US. The new mpox strain is responsible for recent outbreaks in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda, as well as sporadic cases in Sweden, Germany, India and Thailand. The continent of Africa has recorded about 43,000 suspected or confirmed mpox cases and 1,000 deaths in 2024, most of which have occurred in Congo. The threat level of mpox is currently low for residents of the UK and US.
