UK- Two cases of monkeypox virus found in Wales, June 2021

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Warwick1991 said:
Some years ago, I read a series of books on biowarfare. One of things I recall was that monkeypox was one of the diseases investigated for weaponization by the Soviet Union. The Russian Federation never dismantled its biowarfare establishment, and it is believed to be very active. Monkeypox was thought to be an ideal bioweapon, as smallpox vaccinations, which apparently offered some protection to this virus, have waned. Monkeypox could be used as bioweapon

Perhaps the appearance of this virus is not from a natural transmission, but from a deliberate act by Russia... MOO
Click to expand...
Cannot deny that the same thought went through my mind too..
 
Two of the books I've read on the Soviet bioweapons program directly mention monkeypox. One book, Alibek, Ken and Steven Handelman (1999), Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World – Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran It, has mentions that monkeypox weapons were ready in 1990. Alibek was a physician who had been recruited to the Soviet bioweapons program, and he defected the the US. Alibek's book, IMO, is a very readable account of the Soviet bioweapons world.

Another book, The Soviet Biological Weapons Program - A History, by Milton Leitenberg and Raymond Zilinskas (2012) is a very detailed volume, which mentions research with monkeypox, with the possibility of increasing its virulence. But their book did not have great detail on monkeypox weapons.

What is interesting about these new cases is the method of transmission - is the clade seen in the West a mutation?

My Merck's manual notes Monkeypox transmission from animals to humans from mucous membranes, although human to human transmission is relatively low. I would imagine that intimate contact could result in human to human transmission, but the cases sound difficult to explain. I hope this isn't the next Covid.........
 
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May 21 2022
timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Monkeypox cases cross 100 in Europe, WHO calls urgent meet - Times of India

Europe News: LONDON: The World Health Organization was due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection mo.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com timesofindia.indiatimes.com
''LONDON: The World Health Organization was due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe.
In what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever, cases have been reported in at least eight European countries — Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK — as well as US, Canada and Australia. The disease typically spreads through close contact and has rarely spread outside Africa, so this outbreak has triggered concern.
However,scientists do not expect the outbreak to evolve into a pandemic like Covid, given the virus does not spread as easily as Sars-COV-2.
“This is the largest and most widespread outbreak of monkeypox ever seen in Europe,” said Germany’s armed forces’ medical service. There isn’t a specific vaccine for monkeypox, but data shows that the vaccines used to eradicate smallpox are up to 85% effective against monkeypox, according to the WHO''


Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/91691235.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
“I'm stunned by this. Every day I wake up and there are more ..
 
dotr said:
May 21 2022
timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Monkeypox cases cross 100 in Europe, WHO calls urgent meet - Times of India

Europe News: LONDON: The World Health Organization was due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection mo.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com timesofindia.indiatimes.com
''LONDON: The World Health Organization was due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe.
In what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever, cases have been reported in at least eight European countries — Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK — as well as US, Canada and Australia. The disease typically spreads through close contact and has rarely spread outside Africa, so this outbreak has triggered concern.
However,scientists do not expect the outbreak to evolve into a pandemic like Covid, given the virus does not spread as easily as Sars-COV-2.
“This is the largest and most widespread outbreak of monkeypox ever seen in Europe,” said Germany’s armed forces’ medical service. There isn’t a specific vaccine for monkeypox, but data shows that the vaccines used to eradicate smallpox are up to 85% effective against monkeypox, according to the WHO''


Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/91691235.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
“I'm stunned by this. Every day I wake up and there are more ..
Click to expand...

Hopefully the scientists are correct about the outbreak not evolving into a pandemic..
 
ringbearer said:
Not really, imo. According to the WHO, "up to a tenth of persons ill with monkeypox may die, with most deaths occurring in younger age groups." If 10% of the people who contracted covid died that would be 17.6 million deaths worldwide, as opposed to
3.79 million deaths currently linked to Covid worldwide -- and it would include young people. That said, the vast, vast majority of the people who get monkeypox are in Africa. Maybe the reason I'd never heard of it till now.


Monkeypox.
Click to expand...
I had heard of it because there was a case in Wisconsin a few years back, in a child who had handled an imported exotic animal. The disease requires, for the most part, direct skin-to-skin contact for transmission. However, it looks almost exactly like smallpox and requires lab tests to distinguish the two.

I also saw on another website (sorry, don't remember what it was and don't have a link) that all the British cases, at the very least, were in gay men who had had, ahem, contact, with each other.
 
Warwick1991 said:
It looks like many cases may be linked to the same source.Spain monkeypox cases tally reaches 31, mostly linked to sauna
Click to expand...

From the above link: “Twenty cases have been detected in Britain - where authorities are offering a smallpox vaccine to healthcare workers and others who may have been exposed. read more”

So if one has had the smallpox vaccine, which I have, does that mean one is protected? Please let the answer be yes because this stuff freaks me the heck out.
 
I was googling real quick to see if you’re protected if you’ve had the smallpox vaccine. I’m not happy to see waning immunity with that vaccine...
Smallpox vaccination provides full immunity for 3 to 5 years and decreasing immunity thereafter. If a person is vaccinated again later, immunity lasts even longer. Historically, the vaccine has been effective in preventing smallpox infection in 95% of those vaccinated.
New York State Department of Health › publica...

The Smallpox Vaccine - What You Need to Know​


Eta: I see this was already mentioned above in thread, about waning immunity, sorry reading backwards.
—

@Warwick1991, what you were just talking about:

“Smallpox was eradicated (eliminated from the world) in 1980. Since then, there haven't been any recorded cases of smallpox. Because smallpox no longer occurs naturally, scientists are only concerned that it could reemerge through bioterrorism.Dec 6, 2020

Access Anytime Anywhere | Cleveland Clinic › health

Smallpox: Symptoms, How Spread, Cause, Vaccine - Cleveland Clinic”​

 
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“Monkeypox in the United States

U.S. monkeypox cases are very rare. Monkeypox does not occur naturally in the United States, but cases have happened that were associated with international travel or importing animals from areas where the disease is more common.

NEWMay 2022​

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are collaborating with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to investigate a situation in which a U.S. resident tested positive for monkeypox on May 18 after returning to the U.S. from Canada.
CDC is also tracking multiple clusters of monkeypox that have been reported in early- to mid-May in several countries that don’t normally report monkeypox, including in Europe and North America.
It’s not clear how people in those clusters were exposed to monkeypox but cases include people who self-identify as men who have sex with men. CDC is urging healthcare providers in the U.S. to be alert for patients who have rash illnesses consistent with monkeypox, regardless of whether they have travel or specific risk factors for monkeypox and regardless of gender or sexual orientation.”

More at CDC link:

Past U.S. Cases and Outbreaks | Mpox | Poxvirus | CDC

Mpox is a viral disease that occurs mostly in central and western Africa. It is called mpox because it was first identified in laboratory monkeys. However, it is much more common among animals such as rats, mice, rabbits, and the African Squirrel
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov
 
Sorry for the multiple posts, I’m having a panic attack lol.

So, I just wanted to get the basic lowdown from Doc T and team, then I want to know nothing else. So, I’m searching WHO because I want to know what they have to say. So it looks like they had their meeting today. Let me put it this way, if Tedros says be worried, then I’m going to be worried.

www.reuters.com

WHO to hold emergency meeting on monkeypox on Friday -sources

The World Health Organization is set to hold an emergency meeting to discuss monkeypox on Friday, according to sources close to the U.N. agency.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com

“The committee due to meet is the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential (STAG-IH), which advises WHO on infection risks that could pose a threat to global health.

More than 100 cases of the viral infection, which spreads through close contact and is usually mild, have recently been reported outside the countries in Africa where it is endemic.


STAG-IH is not the committee within WHO that would suggest that monkeypox be declared a public health emergency of international concern, WHO's highest form of alert, which is currently applied to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

—-

COVID-19 & Other Global Health Issues Virtual Press conference transcript - 17 May 2022

FC Fadéla Chaib TAG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus MK Dr Maria Van Kerkhove MR Dr Mike Ryan PE Dr Philippa Easterbrook SS Dr Soumya Swaminathan SF Dr Ibrahima Socé Fall ST Steve Solomon EF Emma Farge BH Bodi Hugger DR Denise Roland SA Simon Ateba JZ John Zarocostas CP Carmen Paun NL Nina Larson...
www.who.int www.who.int
May 17, 2022

Doc T: “WHO is not just fighting COVID-19. There is an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an unknown hepatitis affecting children around the world and monkeypox affecting a number of countries. WHO is working with national authorities to respond quickly and effectively to these outbreaks.”
 
www.who.int

Monkeypox

Mpox (monkeypox)
www.who.int www.who.int

“Human-to-human transmission is limited, with the longest documented chain of transmission being six generations, meaning that the last person to be infected in this chain was six links away from the original sick person. It can be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets and contaminated objects.

Detection of viral DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the preferred laboratory test for monkeypox. The best diagnostic specimens are directly from the rash – skin, fluid or crusts, or biopsy where feasible. Antigen and antibody detection methods may not be useful as they do not distinguish between orthopoxviruses.”



Yeah I’m done, stick a fork in me.
 
“But in England, 7 of the 8 cases don't involve recent travel to Africa, suggesting the patients involved in those cases caught the virus in England. On top of that, those individuals haven't had contact with the one patient known to have traveled to Nigeria, the UKHSA reported Tuesday. Together, this data suggests the virus is spreading in the community undetected.

"Presumably this is cryptic spread from an imported case(s)," virologist Angie Rasmussen of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization tweeted on Monday.

In the U.S., the patient in Massachusetts had not recently traveled to countries where the disease occurs but had visited Canada.

In addition, there's evidence the virus could be spreading through a new route: sexual contact. "What is even more bizarre is finding cases that appear to have acquired the infection via sexual contact," epidemiologist Mateo Prochazka at the UKHSA tweeted. "This is a novel route of transmission that will have implications for outbreak response and control."

"We are particularly urging men who are gay and bisexual to be aware of any unusual rashes or lesions and to contact a sexual health service without delay," epidemiologist Hopkins said in the UKHSA's statement.

Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are watching the outbreak in Europe closely. "We do have a level of concern that this is very different than what we typically think of from monkeypox," Jennifer McQuiston, a senior CDC official, told health news site STAT on Tuesday.

In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first vaccine for monkeypox, which also protects against smallpox. "This vaccine is also part of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), the nation's largest supply of potentially life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency that is severe enough to cause local supplies to be depleted," the agency said in a news release.”

[...]

“How do you catch it?

Primarily, from an animal bite, scratch or contact with the animal's bodily fluid. Then the virus can spread to other people through coughing and sneezing or contact with pus from the lesions.

www.gpb.org

Rare monkeypox outbreak in U.K., Europe and U.S.: What is it and should we worry?

The cases point to possible sexual transmission of this cousin of smallpox — a previously unknown method of spread for monkeypox.
www.gpb.org www.gpb.org
May 19
 
“Monkeypox
Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar but milder from those seen with the now eradicated smallpox disease.
An isolated case of monkeypox was confirmed in Pujehun district, Sierra Leone in April 2017. This was the third known occurrence of monkeypox in the country, with the first reported case in 1970 and the second in 2014.
Monkeypox occurs primarily in the rainforest areas of Central and West Africa. It is transmitted to people mainly from infected animals, including (but not limited to) squirrels, rats, mice and primates. The monkeypox virus has limited secondary spread through human to human transmission; however, it can be transmitted through close contact with an infected person. There is no evidence, to date, that person-to-person transmission alone can sustain monkeypox infections in the human population.
The symptoms of monkeypox include fever, intense headache, lymphadenopathy (swelling of the lymph nodes), back pain, muscle aches and fatigue followed by rash (within 1-3 days after appearance of fever) and then lesions/blisters. The disease is usually self-limiting but needs to be treated in a health facility where symptoms can be managed effectively, and to prevent the spread of the infection.
Case fatality has varied between outbreaks. Typically, it has been between 1 - 10%, with most deaths occurring in younger age groups.
There is no specific vaccine available although prior smallpox vaccination has been shown to be effective in also preventing monkeypox. Preventive measures for monkeypox include hand hygiene and abstaining from trapping and eating bushmeat, especially rodents such as squirrels and rats which are known vectors for the virus.
Health-care workers caring for patients with suspected or confirmed monkeypox virus infection, or handling specimens from them, should implement standard infection control precautions.”

www.afro.who.int

Health topics | WHO | Regional Office for Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) is building a better future for people everywhere. Health lays the foundation for vibrant and productive communities, stronger economies, safer nations and a better world. Our work touches lives around the world every day – often in invisible ways. As the lead...
www.afro.who.int www.afro.who.int
 
www.who.int

WHO working closely with countries responding to monkeypox

WHO and partners are working to better understand the extent and cause of an outbreak of monkeypox. The virus is endemic in some animal populations in a number of countries, leading to occasional outbreaks among local people and travelers. The recent outbreaks reported across 11 countries so far...
www.who.int www.who.int

“WHO working closely with countries responding to monkeypox​

20 May 2022
Statement

Geneva

WHO and partners are working to better understand the extent and cause of an outbreak of monkeypox. The virus is endemic in some animal populations in a number of countries, leading to occasional outbreaks among local people and travelers. The recent outbreaks reported across 11 countries so far are atypical, as they are occurring in non-endemic countries.

There are about 80 confirmed cases so far, and 50 pending investigations. More cases are likely to be reported as surveillance expands.

WHO is working with the affected countries and others to expand disease surveillance to find and support people who may be affected, and to provide guidance on how to manage the disease. We continue to convene meetings of experts and technical advisory groups (such as the meeting today of the Strategic & Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential [STAG-IH]) to share information on the disease and response strategies.

WHO continues to receive updates on the status of ongoing outbreaks in endemic countries.

Monkeypox spreads differently from COVID-19. WHO encourages people to stay informed from reliable sources, such as national health authorities, on the extent of the outbreak in their community (if any), symptoms and prevention.

As monkeypox spreads through close contact, the response should focus on the people affected and their close contacts. People who closely interact with someone who is infectious are at greater risk for infection: this includes health workers, household members and sexual partners.

Stigmatizing groups of people because of a disease is never acceptable. It can be a barrier to ending an outbreak as it may prevent people from seeking care, and lead to undetected spread.
As the situation is evolving, WHO will continue to provide updates we learn more.”
 

Mpox (monkeypox)

www.who.int www.who.int
Monkeypox - WHO

20 May 2022 | Q&A

What do we know about the outbreak of monkeypox identified in several countries in May 2022?

Snippet, lots at above Q&A link:

“Several countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported cases in May 2022. As of 19 May 2022, cases are being reported from over 10 countries in non-endemic areas. Additional cases are being investigated. For the latest information, please see here.

With the exception of cases sporadically reported in travellers from endemic countries, cases in non- endemic areas that are not linked to travel from endemic countries are not typical. At the present time (as of May 2022) there is no clear link between the cases reported and travel from endemic countries and no link with infected animals.

We understand that this outbreak is concerning for many, especially people whose loved ones have been affected. What is most important right now is that we raise awareness about monkeypox among people who are most at risk of infection and provide advice on how to limit further spread between people. It is also important that public health workers are able to identify and care for patients. It is essential that no one stigmatize anyone who is affected by this event. WHO is working to support Member States with surveillance, preparedness and outbreak response activities for monkeypox in affected countries.

Studies are underway in affected countries to determine the source of infection of each identified case, and actions to provide medical care and limit further spread.”

* other questions at above link
 
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Monkeypox - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

On 13 May 2022, WHO was notified of two laboratory confirmed cases and one probable case of monkeypox, from the same household, in the United Kingdom. On 15 May, four additional laboratory confirmed cases have been reported amongst Sexual Health Services attendees presenting with a vesicular...
www.who.int www.who.int
18 May 2022

Snippet from above link:

“Public health response​

Health authorities in the United Kingdom have established an incident management team to coordinate the extensive contact tracing which is currently underway in health care settings and the community for those who have had contact with the confirmed cases. Contacts are being assessed based on their level of exposure and followed up through active or passive surveillance for 21 days from the date of last exposure to a case. Vaccination is being offered to higher risk contacts.

A detailed backwards contact tracing investigation is also being carried out to determine the likely route of acquisition and establish whether there are any further chains of transmission within the United Kingdom for all cases. Sexual contacts and venues visited are actively being investigated for the four recent cases.”

[...]

“No source of infection has yet been confirmed for either the family or MSM clusters. Based on currently available information, infection seems to have been locally acquired in the United Kingdom. The extent of local transmission is unclear at this stage and there is the possibility of identification of further cases. However, once monkeypox was suspected, authorities in the United Kingdom promptly initiated appropriate public health measures, including isolation of the cases and extensive forward and backward contact tracing to enable source identification.”

Monkeypox - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

On 7 May 2022, WHO was informed of a confirmed case of monkeypox in an individual who travelled from the United Kingdom to Nigeria and subsequently returned to the United Kingdom. The case developed a rash on 29 April 2022 and arrived in the United Kingdom on 4 May, departing Nigeria on 3 May...
www.who.int www.who.int
16 May 2022

Main link for updates:

Monkeypox

www.who.int www.who.int

—-

www.who.int

Mpox (monkeypox)

WHO fact sheet on monkeypox: includes key facts, definition, outbreaks, transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, WHO response.
www.who.int www.who.int
19 May 2022

—-

Further information​

Citable reference: World Health Organization (18 May 2022). Disease Outbreak News; Monkeypox– United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Available at: Monkeypox - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 
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