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Swedish health officials said Thursday they have identified the first case of a person with the more infectious form of mpox first seen in eastern Congo, a day after the World Health Organization declared the outbreaks there and elsewhere in Africa to be a\u00a0global emergency.<\/a><\/p>\n The Swedish public health agency said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0the patient recently sought health care in Stockholm.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this case a person has been infected during a stay in the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of (the more infectious mpox),\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n Magnus Gisslen, a state epidemiologist with the Swedish health agency, said the person had been treated and given \u201crules of conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that a patient with mpox is treated in the country does not affect the risk to the general population,\u201d Swedish officials said, adding that experts estimate that risk to be \u201cvery low.\u201d They said, however, that occasional imported cases may continue to occur.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, scientists reported the\u00a0emergence of a new form<\/a>\u00a0of the deadlier form of mpox, which can kill up to 10% of people, in a Congolese mining town that they feared might spread more easily. Mpox mostly spreads via close contact with infected people, including through sex.<\/p>\n WHO said there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths in more than a dozen countries across Africa this year, which already exceed last year\u2019s figures.<\/p>\n So far, more than 96% of all cases and deaths are in a single country \u2014 Congo.<\/p>\n Given the resources in Sweden and other rich countries to stop mpox, scientists suspect that if new outbreaks linked to Congo are to be identified, transmission could be stopped relatively quickly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nView the new Fortune 50 Best Places to Live for Families list. Discover the 2024 top destinations across the U.S. for multigenerational families to live, thrive, and find community. Explore the list<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n