VIRAL SPREAD: Fears monkeypox could be sexually transmissible for the first time after outbreak of 7 cases

Se some of our previous reporting on weaponized pox viruses – including smallpox, mousepox, and monkeypox – at the links below this article.

EXPERTS fear monkeypox could be passed on during sex for the first time, as the UK has logged seven new cases in a matter of weeks. Infections have risen rapidly, after the first patient travelled with the virus back into Britain from Nigeria.

Yesterday health chiefs warned gay and bisexual men to be on the lookout for new unexplained rashes. This came after four of the new cases identified as gay or bisexual, having all picked up the bug in London. It led to new theories emerging surrounding the spread of the virus – which could have been due to intimate contact, such as during sex. While it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a sexually transmitted disease in the exact sense that HIV is, it means any close contact that comes with sex could pass it on more easily.

Mateo Prochazka, an STI expert and head of the UKHSA team investigating the cases, told the Telegraph: “Close contact between two people (such as during sex) could facilitate transmission – but this has never been described before.

“However, the high proportion of cases in the current outbreak in England that are gay or bisexual (4/7, 57 per cent) is highly suggestive of spread in sexual networks. This is further suggested by the fact that common contacts have been identified for only two  of the four latest cases. What is even more bizarre is finding cases that appear to have acquired the infection via sexual contact – this is a novel route of transmission that will have implications for outbreak response and control.”

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