Next big plague is spreading undetected. Stock up on toilet paper. Old people and veterans after 9/11 who got the smallpox jabs before deploying out of the country may be protected.
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There's a monkeypox outbreak in England, Portugal and Spain. The outbreak is quite small – just 36 suspected cases spread across the three countries, including 8 in England and 20 in Portugal. A case in the U.S. has also been reported.
But health officials have little clue where people caught the virus. And there's concern the virus may be spreading through the community – undetected – and possibly through a new route of transmission.
"This [outbreak] is rare and unusual," epidemiologist Susan Hopkins, who's the chief medical adviser of the U.K. Health Security Agency [UKHSA], said in a statement on Monday.
"Exactly where and how they [people] acquired their infections remains under urgent investigation," the agency said in a statement.
Monkeypox can be a nasty illness, which causes a fever, body aches, enlarged lymph nodes and eventually "pox" or painful, fluid-filled blisters on the face, hands and feet. One version of monkeypox is quite deadly and kills up to 10% of people infected. The version currently in England is more mild. Its fatality rate is less than 1%. A case generally resolves in 2 to 4 weeks.
Rare monkeypox outbreak in U.K., Europe and U.S.: What is it and should we worry?
The cases point to possible sexual transmission of this cousin of smallpox — a previously unknown method of spread for monkeypox.
www.npr.org
There's a monkeypox outbreak in England, Portugal and Spain. The outbreak is quite small – just 36 suspected cases spread across the three countries, including 8 in England and 20 in Portugal. A case in the U.S. has also been reported.
But health officials have little clue where people caught the virus. And there's concern the virus may be spreading through the community – undetected – and possibly through a new route of transmission.
"This [outbreak] is rare and unusual," epidemiologist Susan Hopkins, who's the chief medical adviser of the U.K. Health Security Agency [UKHSA], said in a statement on Monday.
"Exactly where and how they [people] acquired their infections remains under urgent investigation," the agency said in a statement.
Monkeypox can be a nasty illness, which causes a fever, body aches, enlarged lymph nodes and eventually "pox" or painful, fluid-filled blisters on the face, hands and feet. One version of monkeypox is quite deadly and kills up to 10% of people infected. The version currently in England is more mild. Its fatality rate is less than 1%. A case generally resolves in 2 to 4 weeks.
