RKI warns of monkeypox: seven cases discovered in Great Britain - one group particularly affected

Created: 05/19/2022, 02:25 p.m

By: Jennifer Lanzinger

This electron micrograph provided by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) shows the monkeypox virus.

Four more cases have been recorded in the UK.

© Andrea Männel/RKI/dpa

After several cases of monkeypox were registered in Great Britain, the Robert Koch Institute is now also commenting.

Men in particular should pay attention to skin changes.

Berlin – Several cases of monkeypox have been registered in people in Great Britain, and now the Robert Koch Institute in Germany wants to sensitize doctors in particular to the virus infection.

The virus usually causes only mild symptoms, but can also have severe courses.

Particularly striking: in Great Britain, the last four cases were registered in men who had previously had sexual intercourse with another man.

RKI warns doctors of monkeypox: seven cases discovered in Great Britain - one detail is particularly striking

In an article published by the RKI, it says that given the cases in the UK, monkeypox should be considered as a possible cause in unclear smallpox-like skin lesions even if those affected have not traveled to certain areas.

As the RKI further explains, men who have sex with men and notice unusual skin changes should “immediately seek medical care”.

According to the health authority UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the number of recorded cases of the rare disease in Great Britain had increased to seven from Monday.

Connections between those affected are only partially known.

In some cases it is unclear where those affected were infected.

Four recently reported cases involve men who have had sexual contact with other men.

They are said to have been infected in London.

Monkeypox discovered in UK - virus usually causes only mild symptoms

The first infection, which became known in Great Britain at the beginning of May, is said to be due to an infection in Nigeria.

In response, British experts emphasized that monkeypox is not easily transmitted from person to person and that the risk to the general population is very low.

According to the UKHSA, the virus disease usually causes only mild symptoms, but can also have severe courses.

Only symptomatic patients with close contact are contagious.

According to the UKHSA, the first signs of illness include: fever, headache, muscle and back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

A rash can develop, which often spreads to other parts of the body, starting from the face.

The rash looks different depending on the phase and can resemble chickenpox and syphilis.

Smallpox was actually already considered eradicated - monkeypox has been increasingly registered since 2017

Smallpox has been considered eradicated worldwide since 1980 after a major vaccination campaign.

As the RKI explains, large parts of the world's population no longer have vaccination protection.

In Nigeria, since 2017, there has been an increase in monkeypox infections in humans - and cases in connection with travel there, especially in the United Kingdom.

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Experts suspect that the monkeypox pathogen circulates in rodents, monkeys are considered false hosts.

"Infections can be transmitted through contact with the secretions of infected animals," says the RKI report.

Transmissions from person to person through contact with body fluids or crusts are described with infection chains of up to six people.

"The sexual transmission of smallpox viruses is also possible," it said.

In a 2019 technical article, three RKI employees stated: "Outside of Africa, monkeypox has only been identified in humans three times: in 2003 in the USA and in 2018 in the United Kingdom and Israel".

Most people – over 30 cases were recorded – were therefore infected in several US states.

The virus was introduced to the USA with the transport of 800 small mammals from Ghana.

Those affected are said not to have been infected directly from these animals, but through contact with prairie dogs that had been kept close to the Ghanaian animals before they were sold on.

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