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K employees are finding more cases of monkeypox every day, a senior doctor warned.
Speaking on Sunday, Dr Susan Hopkins, UKHSA’s chief medical adviser, said updated data for the weekend would be released on Monday as she warned that the virus was spreading in urban areas – albeit at low levels.
Speaking to BBC One’s morning show, Dr Hopkins said: “Tomorrow we will release updated numbers – weekend data.
“We open more cases every day and I would like to thank all those people who come for testing in sexual health clinics, GPs and the emergency department.”
Asked if there was a community broadcast in the UK, she said: “Absolutely, we find cases that do not have contact with a West African person we have seen before in that country.
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“Community broadcasting is largely concentrated in urban areas, and we see it mostly in people who identify themselves as gay or bisexual, or other men who have sex with men.
Asked why she is in this demographic, she said: “It’s because of the frequent close contacts they can have.
Dr Susan Hopkins, UKHSA’s Chief Medical Adviser, appeared before the Science and Technology Committee (PA)
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“We would recommend anyone who regularly changes their sexual partners or has close contact with people they do not know to show up if they develop a rash.
The first case was uncovered in 2022 two weeks ago, when officials from the United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was with a person who had recently returned from Nigeria.
In its latest update, UKHSA said there were 20 cases of the virus in the UK.
The virus is spread through exhaled droplets, contact with infected underwear and skin-to-skin contact.
Monkeypox, which is linked to the already eradicated smallpox virus, is endemic in parts of West and Central Africa.
Monkeypox causes ugly blisters – “measles” – called “lesions” by doctors. For most people, this is a mild illness that goes away after a few weeks. Other typical symptoms include fever, pain and fatigue.
However, it can cause serious complications, including swelling of the brain, sepsis and vision loss. Outbreaks in West Africa have reported a death rate of about one percent.
Earlier, Charlotte Hammer, an emerging disease expert at the University of Cambridge, said it was a “safe” case of an increase and that “we will see new infections among those who were in early contact with the first outbreaks” while US Joe Biden says “everyone should be concerned”.
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European countries, including the United Kingdom, have seen sporadic cases before, but they have been largely limited to people who caught him in Africa and then flew in.
But many European countries are now seeing “community transmission” among those who have not been abroad recently, with the World Health Organization warning that 80 cases have been identified, while there are another 50 suspected cases.
“I’m sure we’ll see more cases,” Ms Hammer told the Observer.
“First, health authorities are now – very actively – looking for cases, so we are more likely to spot people with milder versions that we may have missed or misdiagnosed before.
“In addition, monkeypox has an incubation period of between one and three weeks, so we are likely to see new infections among those who have been in early contact with the first cases of the outbreak.”
Speaking before boarding a flight to Japan, Mr Biden said: “This is something that everyone should be concerned about.
“We are working hard to find out what we are doing and what vaccine, if any, may be available for it.
UKHSA said that “a significant proportion of the early cases were found in gays and bisexual men”, so it “called on this community in particular to be vigilant”.
A similar pattern of infection has been observed in Italy, Spain and Portugal, and several of those infected attended the Maspalomas Pride festival in Gran Canaria this month.
Professor Sir Peter Horby, director of the Institute of Pandemic at Oxford University and a prominent voice during the Covid pandemic, said the current rise in domestic infections was “unusual”.
He told BBC Radio 4 that “we have not seen it very contagious before this year”.
“The unusual thing about what we’re seeing now is that we’re seeing a show that’s happening in the European community,” he said.
Prof. Horby added: “It is very important to understand that if people have unusual skin lesions, they are really looking for attention quickly so that we can control it.
“The important thing is that this has not been established among the human population in Europe.”
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