Covid-weary Britons were today warned that the worst of monkeypox is still to come as the country’s outbreak doubled in size.
Health bosses tasked with containing the tropical virus have admitted they ‘expect this increase will continue in the coming days’.
Sajid Javid confirmed another 11 cases today, taking the total number of infected Britons to 20. No details about the new patients have been released yet.
But six of the previous nine confirmed cases were in men who have sex with men — which officials say is ‘highly suggestive of spread in sexual networks’. A similar pattern is emerging in Europe.
Leading experts are adamant monkeypox won’t spiral out of control like Covid, which forced the nation into two years of economically-crippling restrictions. However, they have called the UK’s escalating situation ‘undoubtedly worrying’.
Fears are also growing internationally, with the World Health Organization convening an emergency meeting later today to discuss containment strategies. Eleven countries have now detected cases of the virus, which is usually only spotted within Africa. Germany and Belgium today became the latest nations to spot monkeypox.
Dr Susan Hopkins, the UK Health Security Agency’s chief medical adviser, claimed authorities ‘anticipated further cases would be detected’.
Yet, in a stark warning, she added: ‘We expect this increase to continue in the coming days and for more cases to be identified in the wider community.’
MailOnline yesterday revealed health chiefs were stockpiling vaccines amid growing fears about the virus’ spread. Ministers were already sitting on 5,000 doses but have now ordered an extra 20,000, sources say.
Close contacts of the UK’s known cases, including NHS workers, are already being offered the jab.
But experts today told this website how it was possible gay men could be offered monkeypox vaccines as part of a focused roll-out, if cases continue to disproportionally be in homosexual and bisexual males.
Eleven more Britons have been diagnosed with monkeypox and all but one of them appear to have contracted it in the UK. The original UK patient had brought the virus back from Nigeria, where the disease is widespread. The UK has now logged 20 cases
Eleven countries — including the US, Spain and Italy — have now detected monkeypox, in the first global outbreak of its kind
Announcing the new cases today, Mr Javid tweeted: ‘UKHSA have confirmed 11 new cases of monkeypox in the UK. This morning I updated G7 health ministers on what we know so far.’
The Health Secretary insisted that most cases were ‘mild’ and acknowledged No10 had ‘procured further doses of vaccines that are effective against monkeypox’.
Britain’s 20 cases — which have all been spotted since May 6 — don’t all stem from the same cluster, with separate infections springing up that are unconnected.
The first patient had returned from Nigeria, where the smallpox-like virus is endemic. None of the other cases are related to travel, suggesting there is community transmission.
The UKHSA said anyone with unusual rashes or lesions on any part of their body, especially their genitalia, should contact NHS 111 or a sexual health service.
It is delivering training webinars about monkeypox ‘at pace’ to medics across the UK.
Medical authorities are also probing gay bars, clubs and spas visited by British cases as they scramble to contain the outbreak.
Dr Hopkins added: ‘We continue to rapidly investigate the source of these infections and raise awareness among healthcare professionals.
‘We are contacting any identified close contacts of the cases to provide health information and advice.
The UKHSA is now ‘urging everyone to be aware of any unusual rashes or lesions and contact NHS 111 or a sexual health service if they have any concerns’.
Dr Hopkins said: ‘Please contact clinics ahead of your visit and avoid close contact with others until you have been seen by a clinician.
‘A notable proportion of recent cases in the UK and Europe have been found in gay and bisexual men, so we are particularly encouraging them to be alert to the symptoms and seek help if concerned.
‘Clinicians should be alert to any individual presenting with unusual rashes without a clear alternative diagnosis and should contact specialist services for advice.’
Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said: ‘The monkeypox outbreak continues to escalate, and is undoubtedly worrying.
‘The extent of the community transmission of monkeypox, being observed here in the UK and now in several other countries around the world, is concerning.
‘However, whilst it is understandable to compare monkeypox with Covid, it’s important to remember they are two different viruses with their own characteristics. A big monkeypox outbreak like this is still a very different situation to a Covid pandemic.’
He also warned that there are ‘likely’ to be more cases to come.
Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, told MailOnline he suspects UK case numbers are already ‘in the tens’.
Before May, the UK had only ever seen seven cases of the virus, which is endemic in West Africa.
It is usually spread through handling infected animals, either through their lesions, blood, bodily fluids or eating poorly cooked meat.
But it was known that it could be passed on between humans through close contact with the likes of body fluids, respiratory droplets and lesions.
This is why scientists now think the virus is passing through skin-to-skin contact sex, even though this has never been described in medical literature before.
Initial monkeypox symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.
A rash can develop, often beginning on the face, then spreading to other parts of the body including the genitals.
The rash changes and goes through different stages, and can look like chickenpox or syphilis, before finally forming a scab, which later falls off.
Monkeypox has an incubation period of up to 21 days, meaning it can take three weeks after an infection for symptoms to appear.
MailOnline this week revealed close contacts of monkeypox cases — including NHS workers — are already being offered the Imvanex smallpox vaccine.
The strategy, known as ring vaccination, involves jabbing and monitoring those around an infected person to form a buffer of immune people to limit the spread of a disease.
A spokesman for the UKHSA did not disclose how many have been vaccinated, but said: ‘Those who have required the vaccine have been offered it.’
Professor Geoffrey Smith, from the University of Cambridge, who advises the World Health Organization on virus research, said the strategy was ‘sensible’.
Dr Susan Hopkins, the UK Health Security Agency’s chief medical adviser, claimed authorities ‘anticipated further cases would be detected’
‘This outbreak of monkeypox is highly unusual, but it is very likely the precautions being taken will mean it comes to an end quickly,’ he added.
Although designed for smallpox, Imvanex offers recipients cross-protection because monkeypox stems from the same orthopoxvirus family.
Data shows the jab, manufactured by Danish-based Bavarian Nordic, prevents around 85 per cent of cases. It has been used ‘off-label’ in the UK since 2018.
The vaccine, thought to cost £20 per dose, contains a modified vaccinia virus, which is similar to both smallpox and monkeypox, but does not cause disease in people.
The US is already stockpiling the jabs for future, ordering 13million for a reported $299million (£240million).
Smallpox has been eradicated worldwide through vaccination and British children have not routinely been offered the jab since 1971.
But experts believe young people are most at risk of catching or falling ill with the disease because they are less likely to have been vaccinated against smallpox.
Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at Reading University, told MailOnline that the current vaccination policy would be enough.
‘You would need much more evidence of community spread before it [targeted rollout] could be considered,’ he said.
Sajid Javid (left) today revealed another 11 Britons had tested positive for the virus, taking the total to 20. World Health Organization bosses will hold an emergency monkeypox amid growing fears about the international outbreak. Dr Mike Ryan (right), the WHO’s executive director of health emergencies, is set to be in at the gathering of experts
Nurses and doctors are being advised to stay ‘alert’ to patients who present with a new rash or scabby lesions (like above)
He added: ‘Monkeypox doesn’t spread easily and is generally a mild infection so my view would be that the current policy is enough.
‘Very few people have been infected overall and a general vaccine rollout needs the community to agree to take it up and a willingness to fight off any negative anti-vax nonsense.
‘I doubt numbers will climb much more and think the current outbreak is controllable.’
But Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, said he ‘could see a role’ for a targeted jab rollout ‘if this isn’t brought under control quickly’.
He said: ‘I presume if the UKHSA come to the conclusion that [targeted jab rollout] is what needs to be done then it’ll be done quite quickly.’
A public health source said if the outbreak spirals, ‘there would be a number of strategies we’d look at, but at the moment there are no plans in place for that’.
The UK’s drug watchdog yesterday told MailOnline it was monitoring the outbreak and ‘working with companies to speedily bring forward suitable treatments’.
There are a handful of antivirals and therapies for smallpox that appear to work on monkeypox, including the drug tecovirimat, which was approved for monkeypox in the EU in January.
Monkeypox is usually mild, with most patients recovering within a few weeks without treatment. Yet, the disease can prove fatal.
It can kill up to 10 per cent of people it infects. The milder strain causing the current outbreak kills one in 100 — similar to when Covid first hit.
It comes as it was revealed today that World Health Organization bosses will hold an emergency monkeypox amid growing fears about the international outbreak.
Experts on the UN agency are set to discuss the unusually high rates among gay and bisexual men, it was claimed today.
The panelists, reported to include one of the WHO’s most senior Covid advisers, will also deliberate how vaccines should be dished out to control spiralling cases.
Since the monkeypox outbreak began, the WHO has hosted daily meetings with experts from affected countries, its regional offices, as well as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Its Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Endemic Potential (STAG IH), is meeting today.
Dr Mike Ryan, the WHO’s executive director of health emergencies, is set to be in at the gathering of experts, the Telegraph claimed.
One UKHSA epidemiologist speculated that health chiefs would consider escalating the crisis to a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
Dr Meaghan Kall said the meeting confirms the WHO is ‘taking the situation seriously’. Only six PHEICs have been declared in the past, with the most recent being Covid.
Spain today reported another 14 cases, bringing the nation’s total to 21. And Belgium detected two cases, one in Antwerp and the other in Flemish Brabant.
Germany subsequently confirmed its first ever monkeypox case in a patient who had ‘characteristic skin lesions’ — a tell-tale sign of the illness.
Meanwhile, France last night confirmed a 29-year-old man in Paris had contracted the virus. He had not recently travelled, suggesting the virus is spreading in the community.
And Australia last night confirmed two cases, including one man in his thirties who had travelled from Britain to Melbourne with symptoms earlier this week.
Elsewhere, Portuguese researchers today published a draft genome sequence of the virus.
The data, obtained from a male patient whose infection was confirmed on May 4 after he spotted skin lesions, will help scientists determine the origin and international spread of the currently circulating virus.
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