Mpox strain spreading in Africa could come to Canada, experts say

The type of mpox spreading rapidly through several African countries could arrive in Canada, where that strain hasn't appeared before, Canadian experts say.  

The type of mpox spreading rapidly through several African countries could arrive in Canada, where that strain hasn’t appeared before, Canadian experts say.

The detection of clade I mpox in Sweden in someone who had travelled to an affected African country is a “harbinger” of broader spread, said Dr. Fahad Razak, an internal medicine specialist and epidemiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden said Thursday it is the first case of clade I mpox to be diagnosed outside the African continent.

Razak said he wasn’t surprised to learn about the case.

“It was only a matter of time,” he said in an interview. “Canada being a major port of travel globally — we’re one of the most travelled high-income countries in the world… I think we should expect that cases will occur here.”

The World Health Organization’s declaration on Wednesday that mpox is a public health emergency of international concern was partly based on the surge of clade I in Congo and its appearance in nearby Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda — four countries that had not had mpox of any kind before.

Clade I mpox appears to be more transmissible and more severe than the clade II variant that caused an epidemic in Canada in 2022, Razak said.

Many of the cases of clade I mpox are children, he said.