Monkeypox virus outbreak news and updates live | Symptoms, transmission and new cases in the US

Nine cases now confirmed in the United States

The CDC is now reporting that nine cases of monkeypox has been confirmed in the United States across seven states. Authrorities are still working to identfy how the virus is spreading within the US and other non-endemic countries.

First monkeypox case confirmed in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland's Public Health Agency (PHA) confirmed the country's first case of monkeypox on Thursday. In a brief statement, the PHA said: "To protect patient confidentiality, no further details relating to the patient will be disclosed".

Dr Gillian Armstrong, Head of Health Protection at the PHA, said: “Following the detection of cases of monkeypox in England the PHA has been in regular contact with UKHSA regarding the situation and we established a local multidisciplinary incident management team (IMT) to ensure that we are fully prepared for any potential risk to the population of Northern Ireland. The PHA has been working closely with Trusts and GPs to raise awareness of the disease, and set up testing arrangements and clinical pathways.

“Cases of monkeypox are rare as the virus does not spread easily between people; therefore the risk to the Northern Ireland population is considered low. Appropriate public health actions are being taken and the PHA is working with UKHSA to investigate any potential links with UK cases and we will contact any potential close contacts to provide health information and advice.”

First case of a women infected with monkeypox in Madrid

A woman has been diagnosed as being infected by monkeypox in the Madrid region and has been directly linked to the chain of transmission between men, the Helath Ministry confirmed today.

A total of 65 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been registered in Madrid - one woman and 64 men), 44 suspected cases have been ruled and results of laboratory tests for a further 30 suspected cases are waiting to be confirmed. All of those who tested positively are responding well to treatment.

Cabinet minister Enrique Ossorio said that Madrid's health authorities were trying to isolate cases as they spring up. "If in the four days after contact, a person catches  monkeypox, they can avoid developing the illness by vaccination and symptons if they are vaccinated within 14 days".

Quebec will begin to adminster vaccines for monkeypox

Cases of monkeypox are climbing in Canada, leading the province of Quebec to being to administering vaccines to protect the population against the virus. To date, twenty-five cases have been confirmed. Infectious disease expert Isaac Bogoch has informed the public that smallpox vaccines are used to prevent monkeypox since the diseases are very similar.

WHO asks countries to increase surveillance for Monkeypox

About 200 confirmed and more than 100 suspected cases of Monkeypox have been detected so far outside of the countries where it usually spreads, a World Health Organization official said on Thursday, urging countries to increase surveillance for the infectious disease.

Monkeypox is endemic in the African countries of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria.

The recent outbreak in non-endemic countries has raised concerns. The strain circulating globally is thought to have a fatality rate of around 1%, although effective vaccines and treatments are available.

Talking during an online briefing, WHO's senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said cases have so far been detected in more than 20 non-endemic countries, adding that the agency expected the numbers to go up.

"We expect more cases to be detected. We are asking countries to increase surveillance...This is a containable situation. It will be difficult, but it's a containable situation in the non-endemic countries."

US confirms nine monkeypox cases in seven states

The US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention said it has identified nine monkeypox cases in seven US states as of Wednesday.

Cases were identified in Massachusetts, Florida, Utah,

Washington, California, Virginia and New York, the CDC told reporters on Thursday.

UKHSA secures 20,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine

The UK's Health Security Agency (UKHSA)has procured more than 20,000 doses of a smallpox vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic, as cases of monkeypox rise in Europe and beyond, it said on Thursday.

The vaccine is being offered to identified close contacts of people diagnosed with monkeypox to reduce the risk of symptomatic infection and severe illness, UKHSA said in a Twitter post.

In Europe, the Danish company's vaccine is approved only against smallpox, but is being used off-label for monkeypox, while in the United States it has been cleared for use against both smallpox and monkeypox.

The smallpox and monkeypox viruses are closely related. According to the World Health Organization, the first generation of smallpox vaccines were up to 85% effective in preventing monkeypox.

Spain's monkeypox case tally rises to 84

Spanish health authorities reported 25 new cases of monkeypox on Thursday, bringing the total tally of infections in one of the main hot spots of the recent outbreak to 84.

The Health Ministry, which now considers all non-human-origin pox infections as monkeypox after a positive test while before only counting those confirmed by sequencing, also said there were 73 suspected cases.

Minister of Health Carolina Darias on Wednesday said Spain would buy monkeypox vaccines as part of the EU joint vaccine purchases and confirmed that the west African strain, which has a fatality rate in about 1% of cases, was the one detected in Spain. The Health Ministry added that they now have a complete genome sequence of the monkeypox.

Denmark considering providing vaccine to close contacts of monkeypox cases

Denmark is considering providing vaccines produced by Bavarian Nordic to close contacts of those infected with monkeypox, the Danish Health Authority told Reuters on Wednesday.

"The Danish Health Authority is investigating whether people who have been in close contact with a person infected with monkey pox should be offered vaccination," the Health Authority said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The statement is a clarification of a report by public broadcaster DR from Tuesday, which said authorities had already decided to provide the vaccine to close contacts.

It was not immediately clear whether Denmark had the vaccine in stock or whether authorities would need to procure it. The Ministry of Health, which will ultimately decide whether to buy the vaccine, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

There have been more than 100 suspected or confirmed cases in Europe and North America of monkeypox - a disease usually found in west and central Africa - according to the World Health Organization.

Denmark has registered two cases of monkeypox infection during the current outbreak, both related to travelling in Spain. The first case had travelled to Gran Canaria.

South African experts don't see need for mass monkeypox vaccination

South African disease experts said on Wednesday that they did not see a need for a mass vaccination campaign against monkeypox or believe that cases would explode in the same way as covid-19.

South Africa has not recorded any confirmed or suspected of cases of monkeypox, a usually mild viral infection that is endemic in parts of West and Central Africa.

But its health authorities are vigilant after more than 200 suspected and confirmed cases of the virus have been detected in at least 19 countries since early May.

"At this time we don't need mass vaccinations for monkeypox. There's a lot for us to investigate on the epidemiological point of view," said Adrian Puren, executive director of South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

Jacqueline Weyer, from the NICD's Centre for Emerging, Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases, said that so far there was "nothing strange, nothing that we haven't seen before" in the monkeypox outbreak outside of Africa, "except that it's now happening in a different place".

WORLD NEWS

What are the early symptoms of monkeypox?

The disease has also been spotted in a dozen European countries, as well as the US. So what are the symptoms of monkeypox?

The CDC has these symptoms listed on their website:

Fever, Headache, Muscle aches, Backache, Swollen lymph nodes, Chills, Exhaustion, before a Fever and a Rash that looks like chicken pox.

Read more

How many confirmed cases of monkeypox are there in the world?

The United Arab Emirates has became the first Gulf state to record a case of monkeypox.

The Czech Republic and Slovenia have also reported their first cases, joining 18 other countries to detect the virus outside of Africa.

WORLD NEWS

Is there a cure or a treatment for monkeypox?

The risk to the public is incredibly small and cases remain extremely rare, but in Africa studies have found that the virus causes death in as many as one in ten people. There are currently no specific treatments available for monkeypox infection.

While there are no retroactive treatments proved to cure monkeypox infections, there are a number of vaccinations that can prevent the spread and make instances of infection less severe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that the smallpox vaccination, cidofovir, ST-246, and vaccinia immune globulin (VIG) can all be used to tackle a monkeypox outbreak.

Read more

How many case have of Monkeypox have been reported in the United States?

To date, the CDC has said that seven cases across five states have been confirmed or are presumed to have contracted the virus. The agency has also stated that they will begin to release some vaccines from the national stock pile as they investigate how the cases have begun to spread outside of the area where the virus is endemic. Those likely to be vaccinated are individuals who came into extremly close contact with people who have tested positive for the virus.

Roche develops test kits to detect monkeypox

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche announced on Wednesday that it has developed three test kits that can be used to detect monkypox.

Two of the kits can indicate if an individual is infected with any of the orthopoxviruses, including monkeypox. The third test kit detects specifically the two monkeypox strains from West Africa and Central Africa.

The former, which has a lower fatality, is responsible for the current outbreak grabbing media attention and which is believed to have been moving around undetected outside of Africa since 2018.

10 new monkeypox cases in Portugal, 7 in Spain

The Iberian Peninsula has been one of the hotspots in the monkeypox outbreak that began with the first case in the UK 7 May. Health officials in Portugal confirmed 10 new cases on Wednesday bringing the total to 49.

In neighboring Spain the total rose to 55 with an additional 7 new cases. Health Minister Carolina Darias announced that Spain wil purchase the monkeypox vaccine Imvanex, produced by Danish company Bavarian Nordic.

Monkeypox outbreak, live updates: welcome

Hello and welcome to our live blog for Wednesday 25 May on the outbreak of monkeypox, with an increasing amount of confirmed or suspected cases being reported across the many parts of Europe including United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal. One case has also been confirmed in the USA along with four suspected according to the CDC.