Monkeypox has an incubation period of up to 21 days, which is why positive cases and their contacts are being made to isolate for three weeks. Imvanex is already being offered to close contacts of positive cases and medics treating cases 'based on their risk factor'. It is not approved for monkeypox in the UK but health professionals can use it 'off-label'. The rash changes and goes through different stages, and can look like chickenpox or syphilis, before finally forming a scab, which later falls off.Ī vaccine, known as Imvanex, was approved in 2013 in the UK to treat smallpox, but studies have since shown it is 85 per cent effective at preventing monkeypox. Initial symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.Ī rash can develop, often beginning on the face, then spreading to other parts of the body including the genitals.
Monkeypox can kill up to one in ten people who get it but the new cases have the West African variant, which is deadly for around one in 100. There are a handful of antivirals and therapies for smallpox that appear to work on monkeypox, including the drug tecovirimat, which was approved for monkeypox in the EU in January Six of Britain's cases are in gay or bisexual men, which officials say is 'highly suggestive of spread in sexual networks'.Ĭases have also been announced in the US, Spain and Portugal, making it the most widespread monkeypox outbreak to date. The latest outbreak has been described as 'unusual' by experts because person-to-person transmission of monkeypox was thought to be extremely rare. Health chiefs also revealed to MailOnline they have bought thousands of vaccine doses and are already deploying them to close contacts of infected Britons.Īntiviral drugs and jabs designed to target smallpox have cross protection against monkeypox, with the two viruses genetically very similar. The UK's drug watchdog told MailOnline it was monitoring the current outbreak and 'working with companies to speedily bring forward suitable treatments'. Nine Britons have been diagnosed with the contagious virus so far and the majority of cases are not linked, suggesting it is spreading more widely. Britain is stocking up on thousands of monkeypox vaccines and treatments amid fears the current spate of cases is only the tip of the iceberg.