For the first time, Belgium has confirmed a case of clade 1b mpox case, becoming the eighth country outside of Africa to report the infection, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its latest weekly communicable disease threat report.
Belgium reported the case on December 18 in an adult traveler returning from an African country where the clade 1b virus circulates. The patient, who had sexual contact with a person with mpox-like symptoms, isolated on their own before diagnosis. No high-risk contacts in Belgium have been identified, and the risk to the public in the country remains low, according to the ECDC.
Clade 1b cases have also been reported in Canada, Germany, India, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Mpox outbreaks in Africa near 70,000 cases
Africa has been dealing with complex mpox outbreaks, which were nearing the 70,000-case mark last week from 20 countries since the first of the year. The cases are caused by different clades of the mpox virus and follow different transmission patterns, with regional variations seen in some countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the main hot spot.
