China hit with new virus outbreak after packed hospitals combat again towards HMPV

A new mutated strain of monkeypox clade Ib, has been discovered by health officials in China just as the nation seems to get a handle on the explosion of HMPV virus

A cluster outbreak of monkeypox has been recorded by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. On January 9, the monkeypox virus subclade Ib was uncovered in China and has been traced back to a migrant living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This case is considered to be different from the clade 2 strain of Mpox currently spreading globally and has raised concerns with health officials.

The country hasn’t taken this discovery lightly, and cities, including Zhejiang, Guangdong, Beijing, and Tianjin, have launched a rapid joint prevention and control mechanism. During this process they have found four other cases they believe to be related.

Those infected are thought to have come into contact with the migrant and are predominantly suffering from a rash and herpes. Fortunately the symptoms appear relatively mild.

In an attempt to control the outbreak, the joint forces have conducted an epidemiological and risk investigation to trace the patients, diagnose them, and provide treatment.

This news follows the growing cases across China of a mystery virus, suspected of being linked to HMPV. As images of hospitals overrun with patients in masks have flooded social media, and a lack of official commentary has been shared, people have grown concerned that this could be similar to the early days of the Covid outbreak.

However, health experts have said that HMPV is unlike Covid, having been around for years, and that what China is currently experiencing is a seasonal increase of cases due to the winter weather.

Last August, the WHO declared Mpox as a global health emergency for the second time in two years. Spreading through close contact with those infected, the virus is usually considered mild but in rare cases can be fatal.

China is the 12th country outside of Africa, where it is thought to have originated, to detect the strain of clade 1 Mpox, believed to be more easily spread among those in close contact.

According to the WHO, the virus causes flu-like symptoms and can develop pus-filled lesions on the body as well as fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes. These symptoms are expected to last 2-4 weeks.

Limited secondary transmission has now been reported outside of Africa in the UK, Germany, and China but is still thought to be driving the outbreak in hot spots like the DRC, where its household transmission has especially affected children.

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