TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has announced the genome sequencing results for its first case of monkeypox, showing the individual caught the B.1 variant of the virus from outbreaks in Europe and the United States.
The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control said Thursday (July 7) the B.1 strain has a fatality rate of 10%. It is less fatal than other strains of the disease, which originally comes from west Africa.
The nation’s first monkeypox case was reported June 24 in a man who returned from studying in Germany. He is still in hospital receiving treatment.
Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said the organization has shared the genome sequencing results with GISAID, per CNA. GISAID gives access to influenza virus data and the COVID-19 coronavirus.
CNA further reported that, so far, 60 nations have reported a total of 7,373 cases, with three deaths in Africa. The outbreak is most common in Europe and the U.S., with Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore the only Asian countries to have reported cases.
Monkeypox is so-called because it was first identified in laboratory monkeys. The U.K. was the first country to confirm an outbreak of the disease, in May.
Transmission of the virus is usually due to animal-human contact, or human-to-human. The genome of the disease variant has also been sequenced in the U.S. and Switzerland.