The UK now has three confirmed cases of monkeypox, a rare communicable viral disease. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed two more positive cases over the weekend, after the first patient was identified on May 7. Despite the three positive cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that “the risk of additional transmission compared to this case is minimal”. Monkeypox, although similar to smallpox, is a rare disease with less severe symptoms and less transmissibility.
“The overall risk to the population remains very low,” says Colin Brown, director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA, a UK government agency, in line with the WHO. Monkeypox is a rare and transmissible viral infection, but it does not spread easily through the population. In most cases, patients have mild symptoms and recover within a few weeks. Despite the very low risk of transmission in the UK, the WHO warns that the source of infection of the first confirmed case, in Nigeria, remains unknown, which maintains the “risk of ongoing transmission in the country”.
According to Briton Colin Brown, the two new cases announced this weekend are not linked to the first confirmed case. These two cases live in the same house, one of which is receiving hospital care. Investigations to determine the origin of these more recently detected infections are still ongoing.
How did the first case originate?
The first case was confirmed on May 7, after the UK notified the WHO. The patient traveled from Nigeria to the UK after suffering a rash in late April. Upon his return on May 4, the patient was isolated as a suspected case of monkeypox. The first individual has a travel story to Delta State, Nigeria, where monkeypox is endemic.
So far, contacts made by the first confirmed case have not developed any symptoms. Despite this, everyone contacted will be followed for 21 days from the date of the last exposure.
In 2021, we also identified two cases of monkeypox in the United States, imported from Nigeria. Between September 2017 and April 2022, 241 cases were confirmed in this African country, with eight deaths recorded. This year alone, 15 cases have been confirmed.
In this infection, confirmed on May 7, the source of contagion remains to be identified. The health authorities of UK immediately isolated the infected patient and carried out contact tracing.
Monkeypox: what is it?
Monkeypox can be transmitted by direct contact or exposure to droplets. The incubation period is usually 6-13 days, but has a maximum range of 21 days – hence the tracking of at-risk contacts throughout this period.
Most of the time, the disease has mild symptoms and resolves spontaneously within two to three weeks of infection. Early symptoms may include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and extreme fatigue.
It is also common for a rash to develop, usually on the face, and then spread to other parts of the body. In many ways, this disease resembles human smallpox – eradicated in 1980. However, it is less transmissible and less deadly. Contact with animals through hunting and consumption of bushmeat are the most common risk factors. Most infections come from infected animals in the central and eastern African regions.
The last major outbreak of monkeypox it was in 2003, which originated in Ghana and has infected 47 people in the United States. The investigation determined that the origin of the outbreak was located in a large container of animals from Ghana to Texas.