Health Secretary Announcement Of 2 Monkeypox Cases In UK
#16,010
Although it has been nearly 24 hours since UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock made the announcement - almost in passing - that the UK had registered two Monkeypox cases in Wales, I've yet to find any official report on any of the UK Government websites, although local media printed the following brief statement from Public Health Wales (PHW).
Public Health Wales and Public Health England are monitoring two cases of imported monkeypox identified in North Wales.
“The index case was acquired overseas, and the two cases are members of the same household. Both cases were admitted to a hospital in England, where one currently remains.
“Monitoring and follow-up of the cases and their close contacts are undertaken as part of normal practice, and the risk to the general public is very low.”
These two cases are the 5th and 6th case reported in the UK since 2018, and while the risk to the public is arguably very low, Monkeypox can be transmitted from human-to-human, and is certainly on our watchlist of emerging infectious disease threats.
The illness typically lasts for 2−4 weeks. In Africa, monkeypox has been shown to cause death in as many as 1 in 10 persons who contract the disease.Humans can become infected in the wild from an animal bite or direct contact with the infected animal’s blood, body fluids, or lesions, but consumption of under cooked bushmeat is also suspected as an infection risk. Human-to-human transmission is also possible.
The disease also can be spread from person to person, but it is much less infectious than smallpox. The virus is thought to be transmitted by large respiratory droplets during direct and prolonged face-to-face contact. In addition, monkeypox can be spread by direct contact with body fluids of an infected person or with virus-contaminated objects, such as bedding or clothing.According to the CDC there are two distinct genetic groups (clades) of monkeypox virus—Central African and West African. West African monkeypox - such as has been spreading recently in Nigeria - is associated with milder disease, fewer deaths, and limited human-to-human transmission.
The more severe form of Monkeypox is most commonly found in the Central Africa countries of the DRC and the CAR - where outbreaks have been on the rise for years - presumably because smallpox vaccinations (which provided up to 85% protection) were halted in the late 1970s.
Although monkeypox is normally restricted to small outbreaks in Africa, in 2003 we saw a rare outbreak in the United States when a Texas animal distributor imported hundreds of small animals from Ghana, which in turn infected prairie dogs that were subsequently sold to the public (see MMWR Update On Monkeypox 2003).
By the time that outbreak was quashed, the U.S. saw 37 confirmed, 12 probable, and 22 suspected human cases. Among the confirmed cases 5 were categorized as being severely ill, while 9 were hospitalized for > 48 hrs; although no patients died (cite).
While the UK's latest encounter with Monkeypox will likely end without further incident, this is a reminder that novel or exotic diseases can, and sometimes do, surprise us.
