English patient diagnosed with monkeypox after returning from Nigeria

pharmafile | December 5, 2019 | News story | Medical Communications |  Disease, chickenpox, monkeypox 

A person has been diagnosed with the rare viral infection monkeypox in South West England. It is believed they contracted it while staying in Nigeria.

Monkeypox is a condition similar to smallpox: it’s much milder but is still fatal in 10% of cases. Initial symptoms include fever, backache, headache, muscle ache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion. It also results in rashes that later turn into scabs.

There were three cases of the disease in the UK last year. This latest case is the third to be linked to Nigeria, which had a monkeypox outbreak in September 2017.

Public Health England (PHE) said that they had been implementing rapid infection control procedures and contacting passengers who travelled in close proximity to the patient on the same flight to the UK. They also say that monkeypox is not very transmissible and the patient is not believed to be a risk to others.

Dr Neera Chand, Consultant Microbiologist at PHE, said: “PHE and the NHS have well-established and robust infection control procedures for dealing with cases of imported infectious disease and these will be strictly followed to minimise the risk of transmission.”

The patient is continuing care at a specialist infectious disease centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in South London.

Conor Kavanagh