Monkeypox outbreak hitting the UK – At present there is a large outbreak of Monkeypox in many European countries including the UK who had its first case in May 2022. Monkeypox generally occurs in central and west Africa. Symptoms begin 5-21 days after exposure with patients presenting with high temperatures, general weakness, lymphadenopathy and headaches. Presentation can vary person to person. Within the first five days, a rash can appear usually on the face or genital area and can further spread to other parts of the body. Similar to chickenpox, the rash changes presentation as time progresses and finally it will scab over and fall off itself. This infectious disease can mostly be mild and recovery is generally a few weeks long without any treatment needed. Pregnant woman, children and immunocompromised people are classed as high risk. The initial case in the UK involved travel to Nigeria which is a risk factor itself however the rest of the cases in the UK have had no obvious typical exposure risks or chain of transmissions. Most of the cases found in the UK have been men who have sex with men which indicates a risk factor.
The response to the monkeypox outbreak in the UK was originally based on a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) however the UK Health Security Agency has determined this and this is no longer the case for the current outbreak however NHS England and NHS Improvement have released a letter and many supporting tools and documents to help healthcare teams manage this disease in day to day practice. All the resources and further guidance on Monkeypox in the UK can be found here: