How is new strain of mpox found in UK different to what we’ve had before?

Published

7 months ago

October 30, 2024

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A new, more infectious strain of mpox has been detected in the UK for the first time.

The single case of the mpox virus variant Clade 1b was detected in a patient who is being treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The UKHSA has said the risk to the population “remains extremely low” as it traces less than 10 direct contacts since the case was discovered.

Is the new strain worse?

The new variant that has emerged is known as Clade 1b, and is believed to cause milder symptoms than other strands of mpox, but it concerns health officials because it spreads more easily through close contact, particularly among children.

Clade 1b appears to be less severe than some other strains, with countries where it is circulating reporting around a tenfold reduction in case fatality rate, according to the UKHSA.

It was first detected in a mining town in the DRC earlier this year, before it spread to neighbouring countries.

What do we know about the UK case?

The case was confirmed to the UKHSA on Tuesday, which says the person involved had been on holiday in Africa and travelled back to the UK on an overnight flight on 21 October.

More than 24 hours later, they developed flu-like symptoms and on 24 October, started to develop a rash which got worse in the following days.

When they attended A&E in London on 27 October, they were swabbed, tested and then isolated while waiting for their results.

Fewer than 10 direct contacts are being traced after the discovery, and Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at UKHSA, said the “risk to the UK population remains low”.

Has there been an outbreak in the UK before?

There have been cases of mpox in the UK before, with most seen in 2022 when there was a global outbreak of a less infectious strain which spread to more than 100 countries, prompting the WHO to declare a public health emergency of international concern on 23 July 2022.

A total of 2,137 cases had been confirmed in the UK at that stage, but by 31 December 2022 that number had soared to 3,732 cases – 3,553 were in England, 34 in Northern Ireland, 97 in Scotland and 48 in Wales.

Before the spring of 2022, UK cases were usually associated with travel to or from countries where mpox is endemic, particularly in western or central Africa.

But in May that year, there was a large outbreak in the UK, mostly in men who are gay, bisexual, or have sex with other men.

A vaccination programme was launched in the UK in the summer of 2022 and closed the following July.

There have been no reported deaths due to mpox in the UK.

Where else has the Clade 1b strain been found?

The total number of suspected cases in Africa since the beginning of the year now stands at 42,438, with 8,113 confirmed as mpox, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

At least 1,000 deaths have been reported across Africa, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the increasing spread of the disease a global health emergency.

The first case of the variant outside of Africa was confirmed in Sweden in August, while one was also reported in Thailand and another in India earlier this month.

Germany also reported its first Clade 1b case on 22 October.

What are the symptoms?

Common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or pus-filled lesions which can last two to four weeks.

The rashes can be located anywhere on the body and some people may only have one, while others can have hundreds or more.

These are other symptoms listed by the CDC:

Fever
Chills
Swollen lymph nodes
Exhaustion
Muscle aches and backache
Headache
Respiratory symptoms (e.g., sore throat, nasal congestion, or cough)

The WHO says people may start to feel unwell before they get a rash or skin lesions, while for others the skin symptoms can be the first or only sign.

People with more severe mpox can suffer with the following symptoms, according to the WHO:

More widespread lesions – especially in the mouth, eyes, and genitals
Severe bacterial infections
Lung infections
Mpox affecting the brain (encephalitis)
Heart (myocarditis)
Lungs (pneumonia)
Eye problems

Newborn babies, children, people who are pregnant and people with underlying immune deficiencies may be at higher risk of more serious mpox disease and death, the WHO adds.

How is it treated?

Currently, there is no treatment approved specifically for mpox infections, according to the CDC.

It says that for most patients with mpox who have intact immune systems and don’t have a skin disease, supportive care and pain control will help them recover without medical treatment.

People with severe mpox may require hospital treatment, supportive care and antiviral medicines to reduce the severity of lesions and shorten the time to recovery, the WHO says.

Many years of research on treatments for smallpox have led to the development of products that may also be useful for treating mpox, it adds.

It says an antiviral developed to treat smallpox called tecovirimat was approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of mpox under exceptional circumstances in 2022. It also said its use for mpox has been limited so far.

However, a two-dose vaccine has been developed to protect against the virus, which is widely available in Western countries but not in Africa.

Scientists from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) say they need more than 10 million vaccine doses but only 200,000 are available.

What is mpox?

It is a viral disease that has occurred mostly in central and western Africa.

Mpox has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades after it was first detected in humans in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1970, having originally been identified in laboratory monkeys, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It used to be known as monkeypox, but was renamed in 2022 by the WHO after receiving complaints that the original name was “racist and stigmatising”.

UK

Kids ‘sleep with vapes under pillows’ – but will sales ban on disposables have any effect?

Published

8 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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Kids 'sleep with vapes under pillows' - but will sales ban on disposables have any effect?

As a ban on the sale of disposable vapes comes into force on Sunday, a doctor who set up the first-ever clinic to help children stop vaping has said she has seen patients so addicted they couldn’t sleep through the night without them.

Professor Rachel Isba established the clinic at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool in January and has now seen several patients as young as 11 years old who are nicotine dependent.

“Some of the young people vape before they get out of bed. They are sleeping with them under their pillow,” she told Sky News.

“I’m hearing stories of some children waking up at three o’clock in the morning, thinking they can’t sleep, thinking the vape will help them get back to sleep. Whereas, actually, that’s the complete opposite of how nicotine works.”

Ms Isba said most of her patients use disposable vapes, and while some young people may use the chance to give up, others will simply move to refillable devices after the ban.

“To me, vaping feels quite a lot like the beginning of smoking. I’m not surprised, but disappointed on behalf of the children that history has repeated itself.”

A government ban on single-use vapes comes into effect from Sunday, prohibiting the sale of disposable vaping products across the UK, both online and in-store, whether or not they contain nicotine.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said usage among young vapers remained too high, and the ban would “put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation’s streets”.

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine. That ends today. The government calls time on these nasty devices.”

At nearby Shrewsbury House Youth Club in Everton, a group of 11 and 12-year-old girls said vape addiction is already rife among their friends.

Yasmin Dumbell said: “Every day we go out, and at least someone has a vape. I know people who started in year five. It’s constantly in their hand.”

Her friend Una Quayle said metal detectors were installed at her school to try to stop pupils bringing in vapes, and they are having special assemblies about the dangers of the devices.

But, she said, students “find ways to get around the scanners though – they hide them in their shorts and go to the bathroom and do it”.

The girls said the ban on disposables is unlikely to make a difference for their friends who are already addicted.

According to Una, they’ll “find a way to get nicotine into their system”.

As well as trying to address the rise in young people vaping, the government hopes banning single-use vapes will reduce some of the environmental impact the devices have.

Although all vapes can be recycled, only a tiny proportion are – with around eight million a week ending up in the bin or on the floor.

Pulled apart by hand

Even those that are recycled have to be pulled apart by hand, as there is currently no way to automate the process.

Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, a recycling non-profit group, said vapes were “some of the most environmentally wasteful, damaging, dangerous consumer products ever sold”.

His organisation worries that with new, legal models being designed to almost exactly mimic disposables in look and feel – and being sold for a similar price – people will just keep throwing them away.

He said the behaviour “is too ingrained. The general public have been told ‘vapes are disposable’. They’ve even been marketed this way. But they never were disposable”.

UK

Why stockpiling vapes could be dangerous – as ban on disposables nears

Published

8 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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Why stockpiling vapes could be dangerous - as ban on disposables nears

A ban on disposable vapes comes into force on Sunday, with a warning issued about the “life-threatening dangers” of stockpiling.

From Sunday it will be illegal for any business to sell or supply, or have in their possession for sale, all single-use or disposable vapes.

Online nicotine retailer Haypp said 82% of the 369 customers they surveyed plan to bulk purchase the vapes before they are no longer available.

But the vapes contain lithium batteries and could catch fire if not stored correctly.

While more than a third (34%) of people surveyed by Haypp said they would consider buying an illegal vape after the ban, the overall number of people using disposable products has fallen from 30% to to 24% of vapers, according to Action on Smoking and Health.

Shops selling vapes are required to offer a “take back” service, where they accept vapes and vape parts that customers return for recycling – including single use products.

The Local Government Association (LGA) led the call for a ban two years ago, due to environmental and wellbeing concerns, and is warning people not to stockpile.

Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Failing to store disposable vapes correctly could cost lives, given the significant fire risk they pose.”

How disposable vapes catch fire – or even explode

Figures obtained by the Electric Tobacconist, via Freedom of Information requests, found an increase in vape related fires – from 89 in 2020 to 399 in 2024.

Many disposable vapes use cheap, or even unregulated lithium-ion batteries, to keep the costs down. These batteries often lack proper safety features, like thermal cut offs, making them more prone to overheating and catching fire.

If the battery is damaged, or overheats in any way it can cause thermal runaway – a chain reaction where the battery’s temperature rapidly increases, causing it to overheat uncontrollably.

Then, once these fires start start, they are very hard to stop. Water alone can make things worse if the battery is still generating heat, so they require specialised fire suppressants to put them out.

Batteries can then re-ignite hours, or even days later, making them a persistent hazard.

Disposable vapes are a hazard for waste and litter collection and cause fires in bin lorries, even though customers have been warned not to throw them away in household waste. They are almost impossible to recycle because they are designed as one unit so the batteries cannot be separated from plastic.

Some 8.2 million units were thrown away, or recycled incorrectly, every week prior to the ban.

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine. That ends today.

“The government calls time on these nasty devices.”

‘One in five say they will return to cigarettes’

Separate research by life insurance experts at Confused.com found two in five people (37%) planned to stop vaping when the ban starts.

Nearly one in five (19%) said they would return to cigarettes once the ban comes into force.

The research was based on the answers of 500 UK adults who currently vape.

Vaping and smoking also appears to be on the rise, with Confused.com saying there was a 44% increase in the number of people declaring they smoke or vape on their life insurance policy since 2019.

UK

Russell Brand: Comedian and actor pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges

Published

1 day ago

May 30, 2025

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Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges as he appeared in court in London.

The British comedian and actor, from Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, was charged by post last month with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape as well as two counts of sexual assault.

The charges relate to alleged incidents involving four separate women between 1999 and 2005.

The 49-year-old, who has been living in the US, was flanked by two officers as he pleaded not guilty to all the charges at Southwark Crown Court today.

Brand stood completely still and looked straight ahead as he delivered his pleas.

The comedian, who has consistently denied having non-consensual sex since allegations were first aired two years ago, is due to stand trial in June 2026.