Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

More monkeypox cases detected in UK ‘on daily basis’, says scientist

More monkeypox cases detected in UK ‘on daily basis’, says scientist

Twenty cases confirmed in UK amid reports of child being admitted to intensive care in London hospital
More monkeypox cases are being detected in Britain “on a daily basis”, a senior doctor has warned, amid reports that a child has been admitted to intensive care with the disease.

Dr Susan Hopkins, a chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said an update on confirmed cases would be released on Monday as efforts continue to contain the outbreak using contact tracing, testing and vaccination.

The number of confirmed cases in the UK rose to 20 on Friday and is expected to climb significantly in the weeks ahead as more people are traced and others come forward for testing. Public health officials are still working to identify the source of the outbreak as many of the patients have no known links to other cases.

Monkeypox is a mild disease in most people and resolves without treatment in two to four weeks. But it can be more dangerous in vulnerable people, such as those with weakened immune systems, pregnant women and young children.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, the UK cases include a child who is being treated in intensive care in a London hospital. The UKHSA said it did not confirm or discuss information at patient level.

The agency confirmed the first case of monkeypox on 7 May, three days after a passenger with symptoms returned to London from Nigeria, a country that has had a large number of cases since 2017. Sexual health clinics have since reported a flurry of cases among men who have sex with men, some of whom developed symptoms weeks earlier.

More than 180 confirmed or suspected cases are being investigated in at least 14 countries. More than half are in Spain and Portugal.

“We are detecting more cases on a daily basis and I’d like to thank all of those people who are coming forward for testing to sexual health clinics, to the GPs and emergency department,” Dr Hopkins told BBC One’s Sunday Morning. Asked if the virus was spreading in the community in the UK, she said: “Absolutely. We are finding cases that have no identified contact with an individual from west Africa, which is what we’ve seen previously in this country.”

Monkeypox was first discovered in monkeys used for research in 1958, but the natural reservoir for the disease is believed to be rodents. The virus is endemic in parts of west and central Africa. Until this year, only seven cases had been detected in the UK, in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and all were linked with travel to Nigeria.

“The community transmission is largely centred in urban areas and we are predominantly seeing it in individuals who self-identify as gay or bisexual, or other men who have sex with men,” Hopkins said. Asked why cases were mostly in that group, she said: “That’s because of the frequent close contacts they may have.”

“We would recommend to anyone who’s having changes in sex partners regularly, or having close contact with individuals that they don’t know, to come forward if they develop a rash” she added.

Monkeypox is not a highly infectious disease and most cases in rural Africa are believed to arise when people come into contact with infected animals. But the disease can spread from person to person through close contact with ulcers and blisters, which often appear around the mouth and genitals; respiratory droplets; and contaminated materials such as bedding, towels and cooking utensils.

The incubation period can be as long as 21 days, meaning symptoms can take three weeks to appear after exposure to the virus, but in the latest outbreak, many patients are developing a rash within days. Patients can develop a fever before other symptoms come on.

To help contain the spread of the virus, high-risk contacts of confirmed cases, including some healthcare workers, have been given shots of a smallpox vaccine, Imvanex, which can protect against monkeypox.

“We’re using it in individuals who we believe are at high risk of developing symptoms and using it early, particularly within four or five days of the case developing symptoms,” Hopkins said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×