The current outbreak of monkeypox in the United Kingdom has exceeded 300 cases, official data reveal, as contacts who have a blistering rash have been asked to contact a sexual health clinic.
According to the United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency (UKHSA), another 77 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the United Kingdom, 73 of which are in England and two each in Scotland and Wales. The figures increase the total number identified in the UK to 302 on 5 June, with 287 in England, 10 in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland and three in Wales.
Common in Central and West Africa, monkeypox has emerged in recent months in countless non-endemic countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Canada and Israel.
Although the current epidemic appears to involve a strain of the West African virus that is less serious than the Congo strain, the situation is worrying, given both the number of cases affected and the evidence of community spread.
UKHSA reiterated that at present “most cases have been with men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with men”, although the agency stressed that anyone can get monkeypox, especially if they have close contact with a symptomatic person.
Last month, the UN AIDS agency expressed concern that the LGBTI community could be stigmatized as a result of some of the media coverage of cases it called “racist and homophobic.”
Most people give up the virus after a few weeks, but smallpox can pose a greater risk to pregnant women, children and those with weakened immune systems.
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Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and blistering rash. UKHSA reiterated on Monday that anyone who has developed such a rash and has returned from West or Central Africa, or has been in close contact with a confirmed or suspected case of monkeypox in the past three weeks, should contact a sexual health clinic .
However, experts, although concerned, stress that the risk to the general public remains low.
“This is not a disease that the general public should be concerned about,” said Dr. Sylvie Brian, WHO’s head of WHO’s Preparedness and Prevention for Epidemics and Pandemics, on May 28. “No Covid or other diseases spread quickly.”
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