Expert’s monkeypox warning after rise in cases across Europe

MONKEYPOX risks becoming ‘established’ in Europe unless steps are taken to rapidly bring the growing outbreaks under control, a leading expert has warned.

Professor Sir Peter Horby, director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute at Oxford University and a prominent voice throughout the

Covid pandemic, said the current rise in home-grown infections was ‘unusual’.

Monkeypox, which is related to the now eradicated smallpox virus, is endemic in parts of West and central Africa. European countries including the UK have seen sporadic cases before, but they have largely been confined to people who have caught it in Africa and then flown in.

But numerous European countries are now seeing ‘community transmission’ among those who have not recently been abroad.

Yesterday, Prof Horby told BBC Radio 4 that before this year ‘we have not seen it being very infectious’.

‘What’s unusual about what we’re seeing now is that we’re seeing transmission occurring in the community in Europe,’ he said.

The first case in 2022 was revealed two weeks ago with officials at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) saying it was in a person who had recently returned from Nigeria.

Since then the total has risen to 20 infections, all in England. Most cases have been among people who contracted it on home soil.

It can be spread by exhaled droplets, contact with infected linen and skin-to-skin contact.

The UKHSA said ‘a notable proportion of early cases detected have been in gay and bisexual men’ so it was ‘urging this community in particular to be alert’. A similar pattern of infection

‘It can cause sepsis, brain swelling and loss of vision’

has been seen in Italy, Spain and Portugal and several of those infected had attended the Maspalomas Pride festival on Gran Canaria this month.

Monkeypox causes unsightly blisters – the ‘pox’ – referred to as ‘lesions’ by doctors. In most people it is a mild illness that clears up after a few weeks. Other typical symptoms include fever, aches and fatigue.

However, it can cause serious complications including brain swelling, sepsis and vision loss. West African outbreaks have reported a fatality rate of about one per cent.

Prof Horby added: ‘It’s very important that we get the message across that if people have unusual skin lesions that they do seek attention quickly so that we can control this.

‘The important thing is that this doesn’t become established in the human population in Europe.’

Exactly why imported cases are triggering European outbreaks this year, when they didn’t in the past, is unclear. One theory is monkeypox might have mutated to become more infectious, perhaps morphing into a sexually transmitted virus. But Sir Ali Zumla, professor of infectious diseases at University College London, said this was‘highly unlikely’.