An expert has revealed what Brits need to look out for before getting concerned about the outbreak of Mpox in Africa. In recent weeks, there has been growing speculation and nervousness over the spread of a strain of the virus.
With the Covid-19 pandemic still in very recent memory, there has been concern that the world could be staring down the barrel of another pandemic, complete with lockdowns and masks.
However, as the weeks have gone by, panic around Covid era measures has died down, as organisations have sought to reduce the chances of panic.
This doesn’t mean that the UK or Europe is out of the woods yet, and there could be a moment when the public would need to start taking Mpox seriously.
Dr Bruno Silvester Lopes, Lecturer in Microbiology at Teesside University spoke to the Express about what would have to change for the public to start to become concerned about the virus, which was last seen in the UK in 2022.
Dr Lopes said: “This is a virus that can be transmitted through sexual contact and touching and can also easily pass from infected people to others, especially children and other adults.
“We need to be concerned if an infected person with 1b travels to the UK and spreads it across the community or at the workplace or to children who can carry the strain, pass it in a nursery setting, which are some points when we need to be extremely cautious.
“If this happens then contact tracing needs to be activated in order to find out how the disease is spreading.”
Whilst this point could be reached, it is not an immediate possibility with the risk to the UK public at least considered relatively low. Despite this, Dr Lopes said it is crucial that the situation is monitored regularly.
Dr Lopes explained: “The risk to the public is currently low. However, it is important to monitor the situation because the clade 1b variant was previously only reported in five countries and now an increase in transmission has been seen across east and central Africa.
“Primary transmission in Africa has happened possibly because of sex workers travelling between the DRC and other neighbouring countries.
“The city of Goma in DRC has international flights and moreover direct flights to Europe which is why I suppose the case in Sweden was detected in a man who travelled to an African country.
“According to the UKHSA, Mpox is considered as a high consequence infectious disease which has a high transmission rate, is difficult to treat and can have high mortality rate (5-10 per cent) compared to other variants require enhanced surveillance.”
Whilst the danger to the UK public may be low, Mpox is already beginning to have an impact on holiday destinations popular with Britons.
Tourists travelling to Spain have been warned that the Spanish government could soon introduce extra checks to stop Mpox from spreading.
Speaking about the spread of Mpox, specialist John Claude Udahemuka warned: “It’s undoubtedly the most dangerous of all the known strains of mpox, considering how it is transmitted, how it is spread, and also the symptoms.
“Everyone should get prepared. Everyone should be able to detect the disease as early as possible. But more importantly, everyone should support the local research and local response so that it doesn’t spread.”