A mysterious monkeypox outbreak in the United Kingdom has prompted the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to express its concerns on Tuesday about the undetected spread.
The sudden outbreak suggests that there appears to be at least some hidden transmission of the virus in the region. The CDC warned of the possibility that the surge could go beyond the UK's borders.
Mysterious Monkeypox Outbreak
In an interview, a senior CDC official, Jennifer McQuiston, said that the agency has a lot of concern that the outbreak is very different from that is typically thought of regarding monkeypox. She noted that the concerns include the possibility that it could travel across countries.
There have been seven confirmed and one probable case of monkeypox in the United Kingdom since early May. The number is unusually large given that monkeypox cases are relatively uncommon and are much more infrequent outside West and Central Africa, as per Statnews.
One of the cases was known to have traveled to Nigeria, where monkeypox is endemic, while the other appears to have contracted the infection locally. However, none of the people that have been domestically infected have any known connections with travelers. Furthermore, authorities said that the timing of the onset of the cases suggests the traveler was not the source of the other infections.
The chief medical adviser for UKHSA, Dr. Susan Hopkins, said in a statement that the situation is very rare and unusual. The health professional said that UKHSA is rapidly investigating the source of the monkeypox infections because of the evidence that the spread is in the community.
According to ABC News, monkeypox is a rare disease that was first identified in 1958 and occurred amid two outbreaks of a pox-like disease that was observed in crab-eating macaque monkeys. It was in 1970 when the first case among humans was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Hidden Local Transmission
The disease can transmit from animals to humans when an infected creature, such as a rodent or a primate, bites or scratches a human being. The CDC said that people can also get the infection when hunting wild animals or preparing bush meat for consumption.
It can also spread among humans via large respiratory droplets in the air but it cannot travel more than a few feet. This means that two people would need to have prolonged close contact in order for the infection to spread.
There are two known forms of monkeypox, a milder west African strain and a more severe central African, or Congo strain. Authorities believe that the infected individuals in the UK have the west African strain.
The UK Health Security Agency said that early symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and chills. Monkeypox can also cause other features such as exhaustion.
The UKHSA said that a rash can develop among infected individuals, which often begins in the patient's face and spreads to other parts of the body, including the genitals. Officials said that the rash changes and goes through different stages and can look like chickenpox or syphilis before finally forming a scab that later falls off, The Guardian reported.
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