Monkeypox contacts: a puzzling problem

When it emerged that two people infected with monkeypox had travelled by plane through one of the world’s busiest airports, a media storm arose, with irresponsible headlines and exaggerations of risks for others in the UK and across the globe. The two patients—currently recovering in specialist units in London and Liverpool, UK—probably contracted the infection, which produces symptoms such as fever, headache, malaise, and the typical smallpox-like vesicular rash, from animals in Nigeria, where there is an ongoing outbreak of the virus. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has recorded 262 suspected cases of monkeypox since the outbreak began in September, 2017, including 113 confirmed cases and seven deaths. The Nigerian outbreak is likely to be the result of a local zoonotic spillover event from the virus’ natural hosts—rodents. The disease, caused by a virus of the Orthopox genus, is usually self-limiting—although it has a mortality rate of 1–10%.

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