Unclear whether Monkeypox has peaked in UK, claim scientist as nation reports 45 new cases

In United Kingdom, the health officials said they couldn't tell if the spread of monkeypox in the UK had peaked, as they disclosed another 45 cases on June 10, increasing the total in the disease's largest-ever epidemic outside of Africa to 366 cases. According to the UK's Health Security Agency, men accounted for 99% of all instances, and nearly all of the 152 men who provided comprehensive information identified as gay, bisexual, or having sex with men. According to the organisation, almost 80% of cases were in London, and the median age of those afflicted was 38.

"We cannot yet determine if transmission has stopped increasing," the agency said in a report, citing the reporting gap between when patients first noticed symptoms and when they were diagnosed with monkeypox.

The monkeypox virus can infect anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, if they come into close physical contact with an infected person or their bed sheets or clothes. The British scientists claim, "findings show that monkeypox is being distributed in geographically diffuse sexual networks," adding that some of these linkages stretched beyond the UK. The majority of cases reported having sexual contact with new or casual partners, often in the context of cruising grounds or chemsex," according to the specialists, referring to sex paired with drug usage.

1,000 cases of monkeypox reported in 29 countries

Experts highlighted that sexual partners' contact information was frequently missing. Last month, a senior WHO consultant claimed the outbreak in Europe and abroad was most likely spread by sex at two recent raves in Spain and Belgium. More than 1,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 29 countries that have never seen epidemics of the smallpox-related disease, including the United States, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Canada, according to the World Health Organization. On June 10, Poland reported its first case. However, the country has reported no deaths due to the virus till now.

Many of the instances in the United Kingdom were men who reported having sex in saunas, dark rooms, or sex clubs, according to the UK's Health Security Agency. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said monkeypox has most certainly been spreading unnoticed outside of Africa for some time and that the UN health agency was concerned the disease will spread to more vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and children.

Image: AP