Endless Traveler Variant M-Fox Outbreak...WHO advises caution

The World Health Organization (WHO) has ordered countries to strengthen surveillance as people who have traveled to Africa are constantly infected with the variant MPOX.

On the 13th local time, the WHO reported in a situation report that cases of Type 1b, a sub-system of the new variant of Empox, were reported one after another in non-African regions.

Type 1b Empox spreads faster and has a relatively high fatality rate compared to conventional Type 2 Empox.

It has been spreading mainly in Africa since the beginning of last year, and the WHO declared an international public health emergency (PHEIC), the highest level of health alert, in August of the same year.According to the

report, a case of type 1b M.Fox outbreak was reported in Cologne, Germany, last month. China also recently announced that four new 1b type patients were found.

"There have also been reports of type 1b infections in Belgium and France, and the first case of M.Fox has also been reported in Kosovo in southeastern Europe, but the virus subsystem has not yet been identified," the WHO said.

In Africa, the source of type 1b, the virus is still spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Uganda.