For the first time, mpox, a viral virus that spreads through intimate contact, has been detected outside of Africa, and Sweden has confirmed its first case of this highly contagious variety.

Olivia Wigzell, the director-general of the Swedish public health service, stated during a news conference that the individual became sick while travelling through an area of Africa where the disease was experiencing a significant outbreak.

In response to an outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has spread to neighbouring nations, the World Health Organisation earlier on Thursday declared the disease a worldwide public health emergency for the second time in two years.

“We have now also during the afternoon had confirmation that we have one case in Sweden of the more grave type of mpox, the one called clade I,” Jakob Forssmed, the health and social affairs minister, told a news conference.

Wigzell said the person who had been infected had received care and instructions in line with the health agency’s recommendations.

“The case is the first caused by clade I that has been diagnosed outside the African continent. The affected person has also been infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is a large outbreak of mpox clade I,” she said.