It comes as more cases were detected in the UK, afte a hybrid strain had surfaced in two distinct locations – the United Kingdom and India – suggesting a wider, undetected path of transmission.
The World Health Organization has issued a grave warning to the United Kingdom over a deadly virus. It comes after a critical escalation in the global monitoring of infectious diseases as mpox cases surge in affected regions.
The alert centres on the detection of a “novel recombinant virus”, a genetically complex pathogen formed by the fusion of mpox clades Ib and IIb. The biological event, where two distinct viral lineages exchange genetic material within a single host to create a new variant, has triggered an urgent directive for enhanced genomic surveillance, moving the situation beyond routine monitoring to a state of heightened alert.
And it comes as more cases were detected in the UK, afte a hybrid strain had surfaced in two geographically distinct locations – the United Kingdom and India – suggesting a wider, undetected path of transmission.
The UK case, identified in a traveller returning from the Asia Pacific region, initially appeared to be a standard infection. It was only through advanced “whole genome sequencing” that the true nature of the virus was revealed.
A spokesman said: “In India, a patient who developed symptoms in September 2025 was initially classified as infected with clade II MPXV. However, following updates to global genomic databases, the virus was reclassified as the same recombinant strain identified in the UK.
“The Indian case represents the earliest known detection of this strain. Due to the small number of cases found to date, conclusions about transmissibility or clinical characterisation of mpox due to recombinant strains would be premature, and it remains essential to maintain vigilance regarding this development.”
WHO’s overall risk assessment remains unchanged, and that the risk is assessed as “moderate for men who have sex with men with new and/or multiple partners and for sex workers or others with multiple casual sexual partners, and low for the general population without specific risk factors”.
At the same time, WHO cautioned that clade differentiation PCR tests alone “may not reliably identify recombinant MPXV strains,” meaning genomic sequencing is essential for detection.
“All countries should remain alert to the possibility of MPXV genetic recombination.”
Typical symptoms include:
- a high temperature, or feeling hot, cold or shivery
- a headache
- muscle aches
- backache
- swollen glands
- shivering (chills)
- exhaustion
- joint pain
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