Monkeypox hits Europe
Montreal – Health authorities in Europe and North America have detected dozens of suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox since early May, sparking concern the disease endemic in parts of Africa is spreading.
Italy and Sweden were the latest to report cases yesterday, after Canada reported it was investigating more than a dozen suspected cases.
Spain and Portugal have detected more than 40 possible and verified cases.
Britain has confirmed nine cases since 6 May, and the United States verified its first on Wednesday, saying a man in Massachusetts had tested positive for the virus after visiting Canada.
The illness – from which most people recover within several weeks and has only been fatal in rare cases – has infected thousands of people in parts of Central and Western Africa in recent years but is rare in Europe and North Africa.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday it was coordinating with the UK and European health officials over the new outbreaks.
“We really need to better understand the extent of monkeypox in endemic countries... to really understand how much is circulating and the risk that it poses for people who are living there, as well as the risk of exportation,” infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Maria van Kerkhove said at a WHO press conference on Tuesday.
The first case in UK was someone who had travelled from Nigeria, though later cases were possibly through community transmission, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. “These latest cases, together with reports of cases in countries across Europe, confirms our initial concerns that there could be spread of monkeypox within our communities,” said UKHSA chief medical adviser Dr Susan Hopkins.
The WHO said it was also investigating that many cases reported were people identifying as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.
“We are seeing transmission among men having sex with men,” said WHO assistant director-general Dr Soce Fall.
“This is new information we need to investigate properly to understand better the dynamic of local transmission in the UK and some other countries.”
The UKHSA noted that monkeypox has not been characterised as a sexually transmitted disease, underscoring that “it can be passed on by direct contact during sex”.
“Anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, can spread monkeypox through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, or shared items (such as clothing and bedding) that have been contaminated with fluids or sores of a person with monkeypox,” a US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s statement said on Wednesday. –