A Monkeypox case has been confirmed within Liverpool.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has reported that an individual was diagnosed with the rare infection after recently travelling to West Africa. Preliminary genomic sequencing conducted by UKHSA indicates that this case does not have the current outbreak strain circulating in the UK.
The individual has been admitted to the High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) unit at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in line with standing advice from the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP). Contact tracing of close contacts of the individual is underway and so far, no further linked cases have been identified.
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Dr Sophia Maki, incident director at UKHSA, said: “We are working to contact the individuals who have had close contact with the case prior to confirmation of their infection, to assess them as necessary and provide advice. UKHSA and the NHS have well-established and robust infection control procedures for dealing with cases of imported infectious disease and these will be strictly followed and the risk to the general public is very low.”
Monkeypox is a rare infection which is mainly spread by wild animals in parts of west or central Africa. The risk of catching it in the UK tends to be low, however, as of Monday, August 29, the total number of cases confirmed by the (UKHSA) stood at 3,413 - 134 of which were categorised as highly probable. Gay men, bisexual men or men who have sex with other men, in particular, have been urged to pay extra attention to the symptoms of the virus as the UKHSA claims “the majority of the cases” identified to date have been among this group.
Early symptoms of Monkeypox include high temperature, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen glands, shivering and exhaustion, with a rash usually appearing up to five days after the first symptoms. Monkeypox rarely passes between people but can be passed on via close person-to-person contact or contact with items used by a person who has the virus, such as clothes, bedding or utensils.
Dr Sophia Maki added: “We remind everyone who is planning to travel to West and Central Africa to be alert for the symptoms of monkeypox and to call 111 if you have symptoms on your return.”
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