Now At Least One Mpox Case, In Zambia -- Lukasa. Tough News.

This sort of country to country spread is to be expected, where as here there has been a delay -- in the vaccinations program. Even so, it is discouraging nonetheless -- that we now must now face an outbreak in a new geography.

Here is the latest, from Reuters -- while we await word on the Clade -- II or 1b. . . on this first case. The latter would be the more concerning:

. . .Zambia's health ministry on Thursday reported the country's first case of mpox, without disclosing which variant had been recorded. . . . [Mpox was] detected in a 32-year-old Tanzanian national who arrived in Zambia in early September, before travelling around the southern African country and developing symptoms including muscle aches, fatigue and a sore throat on Oct. 2.

"Given the patient's extensive travel history and interactions at multiple points in Zambia, there is heightened risk of local transmission and potential cross-border spread," the health ministry said in a statement, adding that contact tracing was underway.

The World Health Organization in August declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, as a new variant of the viral infection spread from Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring African countries.

The new clade 1b strain has caused global concern as it seems to spread more easily though routine close contact. . . .

Onward, and now you know -- he is likely being treated in a rural clinic, and that's presumably to keep him away from the densely populated capital of Lukasa, and its overcrowded hospitals.

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