Britain hit by MONKEYPOX: Two patients in North Wales test positive for killer virus

Two cases of the rare monkeypox virus have been confirm in the UK, Matt Hancock has revealed.

Giving evidence to MPs today on the handling of the pandemic, the health secretary casually said the killer virus had been spotted.

Public Health Wales subsequently confirmed in a statement that two people from the same household in North Wales picked up the virus abroad and were admitted to hospital in England. 

It confirmed that one of the people infected with monkeypox is still in hospital, but did not give further details of their location or condition.

Monkeypox is a rare viral disease which causes a blistering skin rash, headaches, back pain and flu-like symptoms. It is caused by a virus spread by monkeys, rats, squirrels and other small mammals.

The illness can spread between people either by skin-to-skin contact, coughs and sneezes or by touching contaminated clothes or bedding. But human-to-human contact is ‘relatively limited’, according to the the World Health Organization said.

Monkeypox can be caught from various mammals including monkeys and rats and causes skin spots which then turn to blisters and can take weeks to clear up  (stock image)

Giving evidence to MPs today on the handling of the pandemic, the health secretary casually confirmed the killer virus had been spotted

Discussing the trace and isolation system, Mr Hancock said it was ‘essentially built for very important, but very small outbreaks’.

‘As health secretary you are dealing with these sorts of outbreaks all the time. I am currently dealing with a monkeypox outbreak and cases of drug-resistant TB and that is absolutely standard,’ he said.

The Welsh health body said it and Public Health England are monitoring the two cases of the virus. 

‘The index case was acquired overseas, and the two cases are members of the same household. Both cases were admitted to a hospital in England, where one currently remains.

‘Monitoring and follow-up of the cases and their close contacts are undertaken as part of normal practice, and the risk to the general public is very low.’ 

Richard Firth, a consultant in health protection at Public Health Wales, said ‘confirmed cases of monkeypox are a rare event in the UK, and the risk to the general public is very low’.

Monkeypox cases were identified in the UK for the first time in 2018 when three people caught the infection in separate instances in Cornwall, Blackpool and Liverpool. 

More recently, a person in south west England was diagnosed with the virus in December 2019 after visiting Nigeria. They were treated by specialists at St Thomas’ Hospital Trust in central London.

Other cases were confirmed in the US in 2003 after patients had close contact with some dogs that were infected by African rodents.

Around one in 10 people who become ill with monkeypox will die and most deaths from the virus occur in younger age groups, according to the WHO.