Monkeypox spread: ‘Everybody’ should be ‘concerned’

Concerns rise as the monkeypox virus continues to spread around the globe as Joe Biden says the US is “working hard” on a vaccine.

A skin lesion caused by the monkeypox virus is shown on the hand of a child infected with the virus. Picture: Supplied

US President Joe Biden said that the United States is delving into what vaccines might be available to protect people against monkeypox, saying that “everybody” should be concerned as cases continue to spread around the world and some countries ramp up their treatment stockpiles.

“We’re working on it hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine, if any, might be available for it,” Mr Biden said from Asia, where he has been on an official visit.

Mr Biden, who said Sunday that people should be on guard against the disease which has the potential for “consequential” impact if it were to spread further.

Several cases of monkeypox have been detected in North America and Europe since early May, sparking concern the disease, endemic in parts of Africa, is spreading.

A skin lesion caused by the monkeypox virus is shown on the hand of an American child infected with the virus. Picture: Supplied

The US leader, on his maiden trip to Asia as president, said in Seoul that health officials have not fully briefed him about “the level of exposure” in the United States.

“But it is something that everybody should be concerned about,” Mr Biden told reporters before boarding Air Force One to fly to Tokyo.

“It is a concern in that if it were to spread it would be consequential,” he added.

“We’re working on it hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine if any might be available for it.” There have been thousands of human infections in parts of Central and Western Africa in recent years but it is rare in Europe and North America.

Most people recover within several weeks and monkeypox has only been fatal in rare cases.

The World Health Organisation said that as of Saturday there were 92 confirmed cases of the disease in countries where monkeypox is not endemic.

The virus is transmitted to humans from animals, with symptoms very similar to smallpox but less severe clinically.

Meanwhile, Britain is seeing daily infections of the rare monkeypox virus that are unconnected to any travel to West Africa, where the disease is endemic, a health official said on Sunday.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said new figures would be released on Monday, after it registered 20 cases on Friday.

Asked if community transmission was now the norm in Britain, UKHSA chief medical adviser Susan Hopkins said “absolutely”.

“We are finding cases that have no identified contact with an individual from West Africa, which is what we’ve seen previously in this country,” she told BBC television.

“We are detecting more cases on a daily basis.” Hopkins declined to confirm reports that one individual was in intensive care, but said the outbreak was concentrated in urban areas, among gay or bisexual men.

The monkeypox virus. Picture: CDC

“The risk of the general population remains extremely low at the moment, and I think people need to be alert to it,” she said, adding that for most adults, symptoms would be “relatively mild”.

The first UK case was announced on May 7, in a patient who had recently travelled to Nigeria. The disease is also spreading in Europe and North America.

Monkeypox can be transmitted through contact with skin lesions and droplets of a contaminated person, as well as shared items such as bedding and towels.

Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a chickenpox-like rash on the hands and face. They usually clear up after two to four weeks.

There is no specific treatment but vaccination against smallpox has been found to be about 85 per cent effective in preventing monkeypox.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said the UK government had already started buying up stocks of smallpox vaccine.

“We’re taking it very, very seriously,” he told the BBC.

It comes as The United Nations’ AIDS agency on Sunday local time called some reporting on the monkeypox virus racist and homophobic, warning of exacerbating stigma and undermining the response to the growing outbreak.

UNAIDS said “a significant proportion” of recent monkeypox cases have been identified among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

But transmission is most likely via close physical contact with a monkeypox sufferer and could affect anyone, it added, saying some portrayals of Africans and LGBTI people “reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbate stigma”.