The UK confirmed the local transmission of monkey poxafter recording cases of daily infections that are not related to any travel to West Africa, where the disease is endemic.
This was confirmed by the chief medical adviser of the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Susan Hopkins in an interview with the BBC quoted by AFP, where she assured that they are detecting “more cases on a daily basis.”
While clarifying that “the risk to the general population remains extremely low at this time,” he called for people to be “alert.” And he announced that the new figures of registered cases would be published this Monday, after having registered 20 cases on Friday.
The United Kingdom sounded the alarm on May 7, with a person who had traveled to Nigeria.
Last Friday, meanwhile, the World Health Organization (OMS) issued an “epidemiological alert” for “monkeypox in non-endemic countries”. According to that latest report, until May 20, 2022 11 countries had reported cases: Australia, Germany, Belgium, Canada, France, the United States, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
For this reason, the United Nations agency issued a series of considerations in relation to “the identification of cases, isolation, identification and follow-up of contacts, clinical management and prevention and control of infections associated with care.”
How monkeypox is transmitted and what are its symptoms
The monkey pox it can be transmitted through contact with skin lesions and droplets from a contaminated person, as well as through shared objects such as bedding and towels.
Its symptoms resemble, to a lesser extent, those observed in the past in subjects with smallpox: fever, headache, muscle and back pain during the first five days. According to the World Health Organization (OMS), symptoms last between 14 and 21 days.
Then rashes appear, which can be on the face, the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet; lesions, pustules and scabs.