Deadly mpox variant Clade 1b spreads in Europe amid rush ...

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Deadly mpox variant Clade 1b spreads in Europe amid rush for vaccines

Mpox cases continue to rise in parts of Africa, three years after a major outbreak infected nearly 100,000 people

James C. ReynoldsFriday 21 November 2025 16:45 GMTComments

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Cases of a potentially lethal variant of the mpox virus have been spreading across countries in Europe, hospitalising victims amid a rush to procure vaccines.

At least 45 cases of the clade 1b mpox variant have been recorded across the continent since August, when the WHO classified the outbreak as a global health emergency. Clade 1b poses a particularly dangerous threat, with a reported mortality rate as high as 10 per cent in children.

Outbreaks of the more threatening variant have surged in central Africa in recent years, but Europe has now started to record cases by the dozen after an international “failure” to deliver vaccines to the populations most at risk, experts say.

Last month the World Health Organisation warned 17 countries are contending with the active transmission of mpox worldwide, with 2,862 confirmed cases, including 17 deaths between 14 September and 19 October.

open image in galleryMpox has spread across more than a dozen countries (AFP via Getty Images)

Cases of clade 1b have been recorded in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Sweden. Seven people were hospitalised for treatment, the ECDC said in its most recent report.

The UK separately recorded 19 cases of mpox clade 1b between the first appearance in October 2024, and last month. Seventeen cases were in England, one was in Scotland and one was in Wales.

Most of the UK cases reported direct or indirect links to travel to countries where the variant is circulating, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) notes. UK health officials are encouraging gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men to get vaccinated against mpox.

Professor Michael Marks from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) said that the spread to Europe was the “inevitable consequence” of the significant and ongoing outbreaks of mpox in Africa in recent years.

open image in galleryMpox is a viral infection that can be fatal (REUTERS)

“There has been a major failure to adequately vaccinate in countries in Africa where the predominant burden of disease is,” Prof Marks said.

This failure has allowed outbreaks to continue, he added, creating “huge avoidable suffering” and contributing to the ongoing risk of the virus emerging elsewhere.

Prof Marks warned there was still a need to move towards finding a sustained, long-term response, with mpox unlikely to disappear as a threat any time soon.

Mpox is a viral infection that can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, fever, headache, muscle ache, back pain and low energy. Most people get better with two to four weeks, but some people can get very sick and die.

The virus spreads mainly through close contact between people, including skin-to-skin, mouth-to-mouth contact and face-to-face (such as breathing close to somebody with mpox).

An effective vaccine for mpox does exist, though the African continent is still battling with a shortage of doses and distribution challenges, three years on from the initial outbreak of a clade 2 variant.

Bavarian Nordic, a Danish biotech company, announced a new contract with the European Commission at the end of October that will allow European nations to buy up to eight million doses of its smallpox and mpox vaccines. Provisions will also be made for donations to low-income countries at adjusted pricing, it said.