Next Strain of New Pandemic Already Spreading?
Are we not supposed to notice that something big is going on?
Literally just one day after the World Health Organization classified the monkeypox outbreak in central Africa as a “public health emergency of international concern,” a confirmed case of the new mutant strain of monkeypox was confirmed in Sweden. Did the WHO know about this case before they made their announcement? Somebody really needs to be asking that question. And as you will see below, one expert is now telling us that there are “almost certainly” cases in the UK already. Will we soon see cases of the new mutant strain of monkeypox popping up all over the world?
Whenever I write about anything, there are people out there that get upset. This seems to be particularly true when I write about diseases. After what we have been through in recent years, there are a lot of people that never want to hear the word “pandemic” ever again. I can definitely understand that. But I am not here to write what people want to hear and make them feel all warm and fuzzy. In Matthew 24, Jesus specifically told us that there would be multiple “pestilences” in the days just before His return. Is Jesus a liar? Of course not. At this point, we simply do not know if monkeypox is one of the “pestilences” that Jesus warned us about, but I think that it is worth watching because the World Health Organization is certainly making a big deal out of it.
One day after this new mutant strain of monkeypox was designated as a “public health emergency of international concern” by the World Health Organization, we received shocking news that a case had been confirmed in Sweden.
Sweden on Thursday announced the first case outside Africa of the more dangerous variant of mpox, which the WHO has declared a global public health emergency.
The country’s public health agency confirmed to AFP that it was the same strain of the virus that has surged in the Democratic Republic of Congo since September 2023, known as the Clade 1b subclade.
I didn’t expect to see a case in Europe so soon. In fact, I was hoping that I wouldn’t be writing about Monkeypox for quite some time. But now that this new strain is on the loose, it could become an enormous global story.
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We are being told that the infected person in Sweden had recently been to an area in Africa where this new strain is spreading.
The person was infected during a visit to “the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox clade I,” state epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen said in the statement.
The patient “has received care,” Gisslen said. The agency added that Sweden “has a preparedness to diagnose, isolate and treat people with mpox safely.”
Hopefully they were able to isolate this individual in time. But even if they did, the chapter of the World Health Organization in Europe is expecting that there will be more “imported cases of Clade 1 in the European region over the coming days and weeks.”
WHO/Europe said it was actively engaging with Sweden’s health authorities on “how best to manage the first confirmed case of mpox Clade 1b.”
It urged other countries to act quickly and transparently like Sweden, as there were likely to be further “imported cases of Clade 1 in the European region over the coming days and weeks”.
And an expert in the UK says that he believes that there is “almost certainly” cases of this new strain in the UK right now.
Meanwhile, Microbiologist, Professor Paul Hunter from the University of East Anglia told Times Radio the new variant of MPox is “almost certainly” in the UK already.
When asked about the chances of the disease being in the UK already, he said: “Almost certainly. We saw with the 2022 pandemic of Mpox, with the clade 2, that once it gets into sexual networks, it can spread very rapidly around the world and it’s actually very difficult to control that spread.
“So yeah, I think it’s not surprising that we’ve had a first case in Europe, and I think we’re going to see more. I think we will undoubtedly see cases in the UK over the coming weeks.”
In 2022, monkeypox was primarily being spread through sexual contact.
But now the BBC is reporting that it can be spread by “talking or breathing close to another person.”
Mpox, which was previously known as monkeypox, is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.
That is news to me. I had not heard that you can catch monkeypox by talking to someone. Has something changed?
There is still so much about this new strain that we do not know.
When monkeypox spread all over the globe in 2022, the death rate was very low. But the death rate for this new strain is much, much higher.
The current strain causing concern among scientists is known as clade 1b and kills one in 20 adults. Its fatality rate in children is higher – one in 10. The virus is also believed to cause miscarriages in pregnant women.
The Swedish public health agency said Clade 1 was likely to be linked to “a higher rise of a more severe course of disease and higher mortality.”
Even if you don’t die, if you get infected it may be an experience that you will never forget for the rest of your life.
When a 35-year-old charity worker named Harun Tulunay got infected, the pain that he experienced was unlike anything he had ever felt before.
His test confirmed he had monkeypox, and only then did lesions often associated with monkeypox begin to appear on his hands, legs and feet. ”My throat was covered,” he said, explaining that the lesion on his nose was bigger and had become infected. “I was scared I would die alone in my hospital room,” he said. “I’d never been in so much pain in my life.”
Another monkeypox victim, 29-year-old Luke Brown, says that nothing that the doctors gave him even dented the pain.
For the next few days, I was in excruciating pain—the worst pain of my life. I’ve been in a car wreck. I’ve had sinus surgery four times. I’ve had wisdom teeth out. I’ve had COVID-19 and mono. I’ve broken my hand, and the pain was nothing like this. Doctors put me on gabapentin [a medication used to treat pain from shingles], and I was also on ibuprofen and acetaminophen, but nothing even dented the pain.
What these people went through is very real.
You definitely do not want this disease.
This new mutant strain has already killed hundreds of people in Africa, and health officials seem to believe that it is probably just a matter of time before it spreads all over the globe.
Once again, I want to stress that I do not know if this is one of the “pestilences” that we should be watching for, but without a doubt we live at a time when great pestilences are coming.
Just like everyone else, I am watching global events and trying to figure things out the best that I can. So let’s watch and see what happens. Over time, it will become clear whether this new strain of monkeypox is a major threat to us or not.
But sticking our heads in the sand and ignoring global events as they spiral out of control isn’t going to do anyone any good.
Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
