Remember when everyone was an armchair epidemiologist? Remember the thrilling feeling of being glued to all the latest stats? Of scrutinising complex graphs with chin-stroking smugness? Yeah, look, 2020 was a weird time for us all. But if it’s left you with a residual interest in the human body’s infinite ability to harbour unsavoury diseases, then you’ll be intrigued by the newest ailment to hit London: monkeypox.
A patient infected with monkeypox is currently in isolation in a specialist unit at St Thomas’ Hospital. They’re believed to have contracted the illness on a trip to Nigeria, and experts from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are currently getting in touch with their close contacts, including people who shared the same flight. But before you start scouring yourself for symptoms (since you asked, they’re fever, muscle aches, headache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a rash that starts on the face then spreads to other parts of the body) remember that this is a seriously rare disease. UKHSA has reassured the public that the bug doesn’t spread easily between people, making the risk vanishingly low. It’s also fairly mild: thankfully, most people recover within a few weeks.
Monkeypox was first identified in 1958, in a population of monkeys kept captive for research. Since then, most cases have been found in west or central Africa, where it’s spread to humans by infected animals such as mice, rats and squirrels. Human-to-human transmission is very uncommon, but it can also be spread by coughs, sneezes, or coming into contact with monkeypox blisters or scabs.
So if you’ve got any awful social engagements you’d like to get out of over the coming weeks, consider pleading monkeypox – just be prepared to have a seriously elaborate backstory (probably involving a rogue and overfamiliar squirrel) to explain how you got it.
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