It can also be spread through contact with contaminated materials such as bed linens, clothing or towels.” “This includes contact with respiratory droplets, lesions or bodily fluids. “Monkeypox can be spread through close contact with an infected animal or human,” Anne Rimoin, professor of epidemiology at UCLA, told The Telegraph.
Monkeypox is normally a virus that is hard to spread from one person to another, and this is the first time there has been sustained human to human transmission outside Africa. “Timely risk communication with the general public is important, and public health bodies should widely disseminate accurate and practical advice on prevention, diagnosis and treatment.” “I would like to emphasise that individuals contracting monkeypox must not be stigmatised or discriminated against in any way. However, they warned that because cases are being seen around the world, the virus may have been circulating for some time before being detected at the start of May.ĭr Hans Kluge, the World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Europe, said: “As we enter the summer season in the European region, with mass gatherings, festivals and parties, I am concerned that transmission could accelerate, as the cases currently being detected are among those engaging in sexual activity and the symptoms are unfamiliar to many.
The Telegraph also understands that experts are concerned about the outbreak in LGBTQ communities because gay pride events are due to begin soon, with the potential for further spread.Įxperts are trying to trace and isolate any close contacts of known cases to prevent the outbreak growing further. “The Public Health Department will carry out an even more detailed analysis.to control contagion, cut the chains of transmission and try to mitigate the transmission of this virus as much as possible,” Mr Escudero said, Reuters reported. In the UK, a link was first drawn between gay men and monkeypox earlier in the week, with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) urging men who have sex with men to be alert to any new rashes or lesions on their body, including their genitalia. Sources have told The Telegraph that an internationally advertised gay party in Spain is also being investigated as the root cause of the global monkeypox cases. “There’s reason to assume that the virus has been brought in by visitors from abroad to the festival after recent cases in other countries,” the festival said on its website.ĭarklands is a ticketed event that describes itself as a place where “various tribes in the gay fetish community (leather, rubber, army, skinhead, puppies.) come together to create a unique spectacle of fetish brotherhood”. The Darklands Festival warned people who attended four days of parties, starting on May 5, that authorities had linked the event to the country’s three confirmed cases. Three cases in Belgium have also been linked to a large-scale fetish festival in Antwerp, according to organisers. Monkeypox cases in Spain have been linked to a superspreader event at an adult sauna in Madrid.Įnrique Ruiz Escudero, the region’s cabinet minister for health of the community, said on Friday that health officials had traced many of Spain’s 30 monkeypox cases to a single sauna in the capital.īritain’s monkeypox tally now stands at 20 after 11 fresh cases were announced on Friday, and contact tracing and quarantine of close contacts is under way.Ī “notable proportion” of the UK and European cases are in gay and bisexual men, health officials have said.