According to reports from German media on October 22, Germany has confirmed its first case of a new variant of the monkeypox virus known as Klade Ib. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s disease control agency, indicated that the patient was infected abroad and was identified in Cologne last Friday.
The North Rhine-Westphalia State Health Department stated that the infection likely occurred in an East African country. The patient has been hospitalized since October 12 and is currently in isolation. Health authorities have confirmed all close contacts, who are being monitored and managed accordingly. They emphasized that there is no risk of infection for the public in Cologne, as the disease is considered not easily transmissible.
The World Health Organization has pointed out that Klade Ib is more contagious and poses a greater risk than previous monkeypox variants. As reported by the RKI, there have been 3,800 cases of the Klade IIb variant in Germany since May 2022, with no fatalities to date.
The German Health Ministry noted that the monkeypox virus primarily spreads through close skin-to-skin contact, and current vaccines are effective against this variant.
Since 1970, monkeypox has been a health concern in certain regions of Africa, and the new Klade Ib variant has been spreading across various African countries for several months. Official statistics indicate that there have been 1,100 deaths attributed to this variant since the beginning of the year.
