What are the symptoms of the new strain that worries the WHO?

Will we see an outbreak of mpox in Europe? Sweden announced on Thursday that it had discovered a first case of clade 1, a first outside the African continent. The World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that other imported cases of mpox are likely to be detected soon in Europe and, faced with the resurgence of cases of this disease in Africa, the organization triggered its highest level of health alert at the international level on Wednesday.

The sharp resurgence of the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, in Africa is mainly due to a new strain, clade 1b, which is more transmissible and more dangerous than previous strains. What are the symptoms of this new variant? We tell you everything.

Contamination through close physical contact

MPOX is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans, but it can also be transmitted through close physical contact with a person infected with the virus, particularly during sexual intercourse, with or without penetration, but not only. “Any close physical contact, through contact of the skin or mucous membranes with pimples or scabs” is likely to transmit the virus, explains the French Ministry of Health.

Sharing clothes, sheets, towels, toothbrushes, razors or dishes can also lead to contamination. A long face-to-face contact, through droplets, can also transmit the virus.

Fever, muscle aches and boils

While the symptoms observed with the Clade 2 variant were mainly limited to lesions and rashes on specific areas, with Clade 1b, these can now appear all over the body. These boil-like skin lesions most often affect “the genitals and anal area, but also the face, mouth, palms of the hands, soles of the feet and the rest of the body,” explains the French Ministry of Health.

While the incubation period for MPOX can range from 5 to 21 days, the person is contagious from the onset of the first symptoms. The lesions are often accompanied by other symptoms, such as fever, large lymph nodes, especially under the jaw, on the neck, or in the groin crease, but also headaches, muscle pain and severe fatigue.

“When the scabs fall off, people are no longer contagious,” the institution continues. But since the virus can remain present in sperm, the infected person remains contagious for longer. Consequently, the High Council of Public Health recommends the use of condoms for eight weeks after the end of symptoms. Note that the disease most often heals spontaneously, after two to three weeks.

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