And Now, Kosovo Sees Its First Mpox Clade 1b Case -- A Man Returning Home, From Western Africa...

The good news is that all the people he interacted with in Kosovo -- and the contacts of his contacts -- may be vaccinated promptly. And the vaccine (closely related to the smallpox vaccine) is nearly 100% effective.

The tough news (as we said last night, most recently) is. . . this is going to be a fairly regular news item, country by country for the foreseeable future, into 2025. Here is Reuters reporting, on it all:

. . .Kosovo health authorities said on Friday they had detected the country's first case of mpox, in a man who had recently returned from Africa.

Kosovo's Institute of Public Health said a 30-year old Kosovo citizen was admitted to hospital on Dec. 24 after returning from a west African country. It did not name the country.

"His symptoms were fever, chills, and skin changes in face and hands," the institute said in a statement, adding that the patient appeared stable. . . .

Even so, we plan to meet the new year with hope, and a sense of purpose -- in blunting the darker, more hateful and malign forces now taking shape in our nation -- and the wider world. Onward.

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