As China grapples with surging Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases, the East Asian nation's health authorities on Thursday announced the detection of a new mutated mpox strain, dubbed clade Ib.
While the discovery marks another milestone in detection and managing the spread of emerging viruses, it brings to the fore the magnitude and challenges in the global fight against outbreak of diseases if the Covid-19 pandemic is anything to go by.
According to China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a cluster outbreak of the Ib subclade which began with a traveler from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has already infected four others through close contact.
Clade 1b has genetic and epidemiological characteristics that favour human-to-human transmission.
