UK confirms local transmission of monkeypox virus

It is a concern in that if (monkeypox) were to spread it would be consequential.

LONDON: Britain is seeing daily infections of the rare monkeypox virus that are unconnected to any travel to West Africa, where the disease is endemic, a health official said on Sunday.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said new figures would be released on Monday, after it registered 20 cases on Friday. Asked if community transmission was now the norm in Britain, UKHSA chief medical adviser Susan Hopkins said “absolutely”.

“We are finding cases that have no identified contact with an individual from West Africa, which is what we’ve seen previously in this country,” she told BBC television. “We are detecting more cases on a daily basis.”

Hopkins declined to confirm reports that one individual was in intensive care, but said the outbreak was concentrated in urban areas, among gay or bisexual men.

“The risk of the general population remains extremely low at the moment, and I think people need to be alert to it,” she said, adding that for most adults, symptoms would be “relatively mild”.

1st cases in Israel, Austria

Israeli authorities say they have detected the country’s first case of monkeypox in a man who returned from abroad and were looking into other suspected cases.

Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of public health services at the ministry, told Israeli Army Radio Sunday that medical teams were investigating other suspected monkeypox cases. Israel’s case appeared to be the first identified in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Austria’s first suspected case of monkeypox has been reported in Vienna, a 35-year-old man who was taken to hospital overnight, national broadcaster ORF said on Sunday, citing a spokesman for the city’s top health official.

The patient had symptoms typical of the illness, including a slight fever and pustules on his face, ORF said, adding that tests should determine whether it is in fact monkeypox by Sunday night.

Monkeypox can be transmitted through contact with skin lesions and droplets of a contaminated person, as well as shared items such as bedding and towels.

Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a chickenpox-like rash on the hands and face. They usually clear up after two to four weeks.

There is no specific treatment but vaccination against smallpox has been found to be about 85% effective in preventing monkeypox.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said the UK government had already started buying up stocks of smallpox vaccine.