Monkeypox: what we know so far

Contacts of patients infected with monkeypox are being asked to isolate for three weeks, according to guidance from the UK Health Security Agency. They will also be instructed to ‘avoid contact with immunosuppressed people, pregnant women, and children under 12’. In England, there have been just 20 confirmed cases so far but community spread has concerned scientists. Scotland reported its first case this morning.

At least 109 cases have been confirmed globally, with Spain seeing the highest prevalence. A large proportion of cases have been reported among gay and bisexual men though monkeypox is not classified as a sexually transmitted disease. One theory under investigation is that a Pride event in Gran Canaria may have acted as a super-spreader event. This would explain the high prevalence among gay and bisexual men despite scientists’ assertions that they don’t have an inherently increased risk of catching it.

Monkeypox doesn’t spread easily and usually burns itself out in an infected person within a couple of weeks. There are two strains of the disease originating from Africa: a west African and a central African variant. Past outbreaks of the central African strain have had a mortality rate as high as 10 per cent. But the variant circulating in Britain is closer to 1 per cent – the same as Covid after vaccines.

Despite the name, monkeypox is more commonly found in rats and mice and can jump between species – person to person transmission is less common. The smallpox vaccine is about 85 per cent effective against monkeypox: the majority of British over-50s were vaccinated as children and will be protected. The government has ordered 20,000 doses of the Imvanex smallpox jab and stockpiled 5,000, which it hopes will contain the outbreak if public health measures don’t.