Monkeypox: Time to worry or one to ignore? - BBC

This time it's monkeypox and there are around 80 confirmed cases in 11 countries, including the UK, that would not normally expect to have the disease?

Let's be clear: this is not another Covid and we're not days away from lockdowns to contain the spread of monkeypox.

The virus is now outside its usual home and struggles to spread so it needs prolonged close contact to keep going.

While he says this is "not Covid-Two", he said "we need to act" to prevent the virus getting a foothold as this is "something we really want to avoid".

There's two broad options - the virus has changed or the same old virus has found itself in the right place at the right time to thrive.

Monkeypox is a DNA virus so it does not mutate as rapidly as Covid or flu.

Very early genetic analysis suggests the current cases are very closely related to forms of the virus seen in 2018 and 2019.

Are sexual behaviours making it easier to spread.

It may also be getting easier for monkeypox to spread.

Instead many of the cases appear unrelated, so there are missing links in a chain that seems to spread across Europe and beyond.

The alternative explanation for so many unconnected people getting infected is if the virus has actually been bubbling along unnoticed for quite some time involving a lot of people.

Monkeypox is a known virus rather than a new one, and we already have vaccines and treatments.

This makes the job of finding people who may have been infected and vaccinating those at risk of catching it easier?

Eighty monkeypox cases confirmed in 11 countries