Monkeypox may have broken out across the continent through sexual behaviour at two recent raves according to an expert. Dr David Heymann, who formerly headed the WHO's emergencies department, told the Associated Press the leading theory out of many put forward to explain the spread of the disease was sexual transmission at raves in Europe.
As reported by Birmingham Live, WHO has recorded more than 90 cases of monkeypox in a dozen countries including Canada, Spain, Israel, France, Switzerland, the US and Australia. "We know monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with the lesions of someone who is infected, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission," said Dr Heymann.
"By nature, sexual activity involves intimate contact, which one would expect to increase the likelihood of transmission, whatever a person's sexual orientation and irrespective of the mode of transmission," said Mike Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London. Dr Heymann, who is also a professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, added: "It's very possible there was somebody who got infected, developed lesions on the genitals, hands or somewhere else, and then spread it to others when there was sexual or close physical contact.
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"And then there were these international events that seeded the outbreak around the world, into the US and other European countries. This is not Covid. We need to slow it down, but it does not spread in the air and we have vaccines to protect against it."
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he expects there will be more cases detected in the UK in the coming days, and that the UKHSA is working with public health agencies in the devolved administrations to "continue to keep the scientific and clinical evidence under review to ensure that decisions are made on the best available evidence despite the fast-moving situation".
