Smallpox smallpox continues to spread in the UK, with insufficient current efforts to curb the outbreak, experts have warned while one complainant claimed there were serious flaws in the support provided to those believed to have been exposed.
According to the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA), there have been 1,552 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the UK related to the outbreak as of 7 July.
While anyone can spread the virus as it spreads through close or intimate contact, most cases so far have been between gay and bisexual men and men who have sex with men (MSM). In England, most cases have been in London.
There are few signs that infections are running out, and the latest UKHSA estimates suggest that the number of cases doubles every 15 days.
“[There is] There is no evidence that current strategies can end this soon, “said Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, although he noted that while the total number of cases continued to rise, the rate of new infections.can be flattened.
Concerns arose when a complainant working on a UKHSA monkeypox inquiry line said he had numerous problems, including offering little support to people who are not confirmed case contacts, i.e. someone the whose name has been provided to contact trackers by a person with smallpox.
The Guardian has seen scripts showing that even if someone calls because they are concerned that they have had contact with a confirmed case, they are told their risk is very low if they have not been formally identified as a contact. The complainant said this made little sense when a person said a sexual partner has smallpox symptoms.
In addition, the complainant said call managers were not allowed to suggest that callers be placed in a sexual health clinic unless the caller raised sexual health. They added that some clinics had turned off their phone lines.
The UKHSA has rejected the allegations, saying the hotline is an additional service to provide non-clinical counseling to members of the public.
Dr William Welfare, the agency’s director of incidents, said specialist public health teams were quickly tracking all cases to limit transmission, and contacts were assessed as high-risk vaccination. .
“Tracking contacts has often been based on people sharing contacts for a large number of sexual contacts, so it can inevitably be difficult if confidentiality is also taken into account. We have quickly implemented a public health operation of ‘high quality with sexual health services to investigate and control the smallpox of monkeys and support those affected,’ ”Welfare said.
“Monkeypox is spread mainly by very close contact, especially through relatively closed sexual networks, and has not been commonly found in the wider population. The prevalence of infection in general in the UK and, for therefore, the risk to the general public remains low today. “
Vaccination involves a smallpox shot that also offers protection against monkeypox. The UKHSA recently announced that it would extend eligibility for vaccination to include some gay and bisexual men at higher risk of exposure to the virus, even if they were not a confirmed close contact with a case.
The UKHSA confirmed that there was a ready supply of vaccine, with almost 30,000 doses purchased, but said the NHS had yet to announce plans for the jab launch.
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An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS is working with local partners to identify and invite those who are eligible for a vaccination to come forward, and over the next few weeks will rapidly increase the number of clinics to be the as fast and comfortable as possible.to get vaccinated.
“Following the advice of the UKHSA, the NHS will continue to prioritize vaccination for those at higher risk, including healthcare workers with skilled and clinical functions where exposure to Monkeypox is highest.”
But Hunter said an even broader approach may be needed. “I think the wider vaccination of high-risk MSM (people who have frequent multiple contacts) and perhaps sex workers is the way forward,” she said. “We may not have enough vaccine to do that, but I think there could be a case for offering a vaccine to everyone who attends an STD [sexually transmitted diseases] clinic. ”