#13,503
Last Saturday the UK'S PHE (Public Health England) announced that country's first imported case of Monkeypox in a traveler from Nigeria. Although Nigeria saw its first outbreak of Monkeypox in 38 years last fall, the last outbreak update posted by their CDC was in February of this year.
Today - hat tip Shiloh on FluTrackers - the PHE is announcing their second imported case, which somewhat surprisingly has no known epidemiological link in the UK to the first case.According to the following statement, this second case was also presumably infected in Nigeria before traveling to the UK. I've made a quick visit to the Nigerian CDC website, and find no mention of Monkeypox in their latest weekly (#33) Epidemiological report.
Cases of monkeypox confirmed in England.
Last updated 11 September 2018
From: Public Health England
Public Health England (PHE) can confirm that a second individual has been diagnosed with monkeypox in England.
There is no UK link to the patient diagnosed last week in Cornwall who is currently receiving care at the Royal Free in London.
This second patient had travelled to Nigeria where they are believed to have acquired the infection. The second case first presented at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and following a positive test result was transferred to Royal Liverpool University Hospital, an expert respiratory infectious disease centre, where they are receiving appropriate care.
Dr Nick Phin, Deputy Director, National Infection Service at PHE:
Dr Mike Beadsworth, Clinical Director of the Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit said:
- We know that in September 2017 Nigeria experienced a large sustained outbreak of monkeypox and since then sporadic cases have continued to be reported. It is likely that monkeypox continues to circulate in Nigeria and could, therefore, affect travellers who are returning from this part of the world.
- However, it is very unusual to see 2 cases in such a relatively short space of time. We are working hard to contact individuals, including healthcare workers, that might have come into contact with the individual to provide information and health advice.
- We are treating a patient who has tested positive for monkeypox. The patient is being cared for on our specialist infectious and tropical diseases unit, by highly trained staff who are experienced in dealing with a variety of infectious diseases.
- All necessary precautions are being taken by specialist staff and there is currently no risk to other staff, patients or visitors.
- We ask that people continue to use our services as normal and that people only come to our emergency department if their condition is serious and/or an emergency.
Two monkeypox cases arriving within 3 days of each other in the UK from a country that is not currently reporting any large outbreaks is more than a little unusual, but it reminds us of just how easily infectious diseases can catch a ride on international flights.
To these two cases we can add two MERS cases exported from the Middle East in the last month (1 to the UK, 1 to South Korea), and 3 plane loads of passengers briefly quarantined at U.S. airports last week for suspected influenza among passengers and crew.A not so subtle reminder that in our highly mobile society, a disease outbreak anywhere in the world can become a public health risk anyplace on the planet in a matter of just a few days.
For more details on the threat posed by the Monkeypox virus, please see my piece from Sunday.
