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Belgium has become the first country to introduce a mandatory 21-day monkeypox quarantine – as 14 countries now confirm outbreaks of the viral disease and doctors warn of a “significant rise” in cases in the UK
Those who contract the virus will now have to self-isolate for three weeks, Belgian health authorities said after three cases were recorded in the country.
The infections, the first of which was registered on Friday, are all related to a festival in the port city of Antwerp.
It comes as doctors have warned the UK is facing a “significant” rise in infections and the government’s response is “crucial” to stem its spread.
dr Claire Dewsnap, President of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, also said the outbreak could have a “massive impact” on access to sexual health services in the UK.
It comes when Dr. Susan Hopkins, a senior medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency, also today warned that monkeypox is spreading through community transmission in the UK, with more cases being detected every day.
Sajid Javid announced yesterday that a further 11 Britons have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 20.
The cases include a British child who is currently in critical condition in a London hospital, while a further 100 infections have been recorded in Europe.
dr Dewsnap told Sky News: “Our response here is really critical.
dr Claire Dewsnap, President of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, warns of a “significant” rise in infections across the UK in the coming weeks
“There will be more diagnoses in the next week.
“It’s hard to say how many. What worries me the most is that there are infections all over Europe, so it’s already spreading.
“It is already circulating in the general population.
“Managing the contacts of all these people is a daunting task.
“The numbers could be really significant in the next two or three weeks.”
She expects more cases to be identified across the UK, with a “significant increase from this next week”.
One of the first known cases of the monkeypox virus is shown on a patient’s hand on June 5, 2003, in an image released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A 2003 electron micrograph released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions
The rare viral infection, which people typically contract in tropical areas of west and central Africa, can be spread through very close contact with an infected person.
It is usually mild, with most patients recovering within a few weeks without treatment.
However, the disease can prove deadly, with the strain causing the current outbreak killing one in 100 infected.
The disease, first identified in monkeys, can be transmitted from person to person through close physical contact – as well as sexual intercourse – and is caused by the monkeypox virus.
dr Hopkins said updated figures for the weekend would be released on Monday as she warned of more cases “daily”.
Speaking to BBC One’s Morning Show, Dr. Hopkins: “We will publish updated figures tomorrow – figures over the weekend.
“We are discovering more cases every day and I want to thank all of the people who are reaching out to sexual health clinics, GPs and the emergency room for testing.”
Asked if there is community transmission in the UK, she said: “We are definitely finding cases that have no identified contact with an individual from West Africa, which is what we have seen before in that country.
“Community transmission is largely concentrated in urban areas and we see it predominantly in people who self-identify as gay or bisexual, or in other men who have sex with men.”
When asked why it’s found in this demographic, she said: “It’s because of the frequent close contacts they may have.
“We would recommend anyone who switches sex partners regularly or who is in close contact with people they don’t know to call in if they develop a rash.”
dr Dewsnap also said she’s concerned about the impact of monkeypox on treating other infections as staff are redirected to help fight the outbreak.
She added: “Some clinics that have seen cases have had to advise people not to go in.
“They did that primarily because we don’t want people sitting in waiting rooms and potentially infecting other people if someone has symptoms consistent with monkeypox.
“They have established telephone triage for all of these locations.”
dr Susan Hopkins, a senior medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said more cases of monkeypox were being detected every day.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, Dr. Hopkins, UKHSA will publish updated figures on Monday.
She said: “We will be releasing updated figures tomorrow – figures over the weekend.
“We are discovering more cases every day and I want to thank all of the people who are reaching out to sexual health clinics, GPs and the emergency room for testing.”
And asked to confirm reports that someone was being treated in intensive care for monkeypox, she said: “We are not confirming individual reports and individual patients.”
In the UK, authorities are offering a smallpox vaccine to healthcare workers and others who may have been exposed.
Portugal has 14 confirmed cases and 20 suspected cases. And across the Atlantic, Canada has two confirmed cases with 20 suspects.
There are also cases in Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Israel, Switzerland and Australia.
The World Health Organization said it expects to identify more cases of monkeypox as it expands surveillance in countries where the disease does not typically occur.
As of Saturday, 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox, which are non-endemic to the virus, had been reported from 12 member states, the UN agency said, adding that it would provide further guidance and recommendations for countries to contain the disease in the coming days Spread of monkeypox.
So far, no one has died from the virus.
Professor David Heymann, an expert in infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “What seems to be happening now is that it has entered the population as a sexual form, as a genital form, and it exists and is widespread, as well such as sexually transmitted infections, which have increased their transmission around the world.
He said close contact is the main route of transmission because lesions typical of the disease are highly contagious.
For example, parents caring for sick children are at risk, as are health workers, which is why some countries have started vaccinating teams treating monkeypox patients with vaccines against smallpox, a related virus.
Many of the current cases have been identified in sexual health clinics.
Early genome sequencing of a handful of cases in Europe has suggested a resemblance to the strain, which had limited spread in the UK, Israel and Singapore in 2018.
Heymann said it was “biologically plausible” that the virus had been circulating outside of the countries where it is endemic but had not resulted in major outbreaks due to COVID-19 lockdowns, social distancing and travel restrictions.
It came as it emerged that some of the country’s top disease experts were warning that monkeypox would fill the void left by smallpox three years ago.
Scientists from leading institutions such as the University of Cambridge and the London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine argued that the viral disease would evolve to fill the “niche” left after smallpox was eradicated.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, the experts attended a seminar in London back in 2019 and discussed the need to develop “new generation vaccines and treatments”.
The seminar heard that with the eradication of smallpox in 1980, smallpox vaccination was phased out, leaving up to 70 percent of the world’s population unprotected against smallpox.
They are no longer protected against other viruses of the same family, such as monkeypox.
