The World Health Organization (WHO) announced yesterday that two people have contracted the emerging strain of the Monkeypox virus (monkey virus) in the United Kingdom, after coming into contact with a patient who recently returned from Africa. . This case marks the first local transmission of the disease outside the African continent.
In a statement, the WHO clarified that the two individuals live in the same household as a person previously tested positive after traveling to several African countries. These are the “first cases of local transmission in Europe and the first outside Africa since August 2024.”
Hans Kluge, director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, stressed that the risk to the population of the United Kingdom and the region remains low, but that this local transmission should prompt health authorities to strengthen control measures. surveillance and to put in place a rapid response to follow the contacts of people suspected and confirmed as carrying the virus.
For its part, the British Health Security Agency clarified that the patients are currently being treated at Guy’s and St Thomas hospital in London, while warning of the possibility of other cases in the same household.
It should be noted that last week, the British Agency reported the first case of this new variant of the virus in London. In Africa, more than 1,000 deaths have been recorded due to monkeypox, with around 48,000 infections recorded since January, according to the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
