Expert: Monkeypox possible spread by sex at 2 raves in Europe

LONDON (AP) — A leading adviser to the World Health Group described the unprecedented outbreak of monkeypox in developed international locations as “a random event” that appears to have been brought on by sexual activity at two recent raves in Europe.

Dr. David Heymann, who formerly headed WHO’s emergencies division, told The Related Press that the leading principle to elucidate the unfold of the disease was sexual transmission at raves held in Spain and Belgium. Monkeypox has not beforehand triggered widespread outbreaks beyond Africa, the place it is endemic in animals.

“We all know monkeypox can spread when there's shut contact with the lesions of someone who's contaminated, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission,” mentioned Heymann.

That marks a significant departure from the illness’s typical sample of unfold in central and western Africa, where people are mainly contaminated by animals like wild rodents and primates and outbreaks haven't spilled across borders.

Well being officers say most of the identified instances in Europe have been among men who've intercourse with males, but anybody could be contaminated via close contact with a sick person, their clothes or bedsheets. Scientists say will probably be difficult to disentangle whether or not the unfold is being driven by sex or merely close contact.

“By nature, sexual exercise entails intimate contact, which one would anticipate to increase the chance of transmission, no matter an individual’s sexual orientation and regardless of the mode of transmission,” stated Mike Skinner, a virologist at Imperial Faculty London.

On Monday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Director Andrea Ammon mentioned “the chance of further spread of the virus via close contact, for instance during sexual activities amongst persons with multiple sexual companions, is considered to be excessive.”

So far, WHO has recorded greater than 90 instances of monkeypox in a dozen international locations including Canada, Spain, Israel, France, Switzerland, the U.S. and Australia.

On Monday, Denmark introduced its first case, Portugal revised its complete upwards to 37, Italy reported one additional an infection and Britain added 37 extra instances.

U.S. health officers stated Monday they knew of 1 confirmed case, in the state of Massachusetts, and four possible circumstances — two in Utah, one in Florida and one in New York Metropolis. All have been males who had traveled outside the U.S.

Germany has four confirmed instances linked to exposure at “occasion occasions ... the place sexual activity took place” in Spain’s Canary Islands and in Berlin, in accordance with a government report back to lawmakers obtained by the AP.

Madrid’s senior health official said Monday that the Spanish capital had 30 confirmed instances. Enrique Ruiz Escudero mentioned authorities are investigating possible hyperlinks between a current Homosexual Pride event in the Canary Islands, which drew some 80,000 people, and instances at a Madrid sauna.

The monkeypox instances thus far have been mild, with no deaths reported. Typically, the virus causes fever, chills, rash and lesions on the face or genitals. Most people recover within a number of weeks with out requiring hospitalization.

Vaccines in opposition to smallpox, a associated disease, are efficient in preventing monkeypox and some antiviral medication are being developed. In recent times, the sickness has been fatal in up to 6% of infections.

Heymann chaired an urgent meeting of WHO’s advisory group on infectious disease threats on Friday to evaluate the outbreak and said there was no proof to counsel that monkeypox had mutated right into a more infectious type.

The U.N. company stated the outbreak is “a extremely unusual occasion” and said the truth that circumstances are being seen in so many different international locations suggests the virus might have been silently spreading for a while. The agency’s Europe director warned that festivals and events might accelerate unfold.

Nonetheless, at a public session on Monday, WHO officers described the outbreak as “containable” and cautioned against stigmatizing affected groups, saying the disease can infect anybody.

The agency mentioned the cases gave the impression to be linked to a monkeypox virus that was first detected in exported circumstances from Nigeria to Britain, Israel and Singapore in 2018 and 2019.

Authorities in Britain, Spain and Portugal have stated many of the cases recognized to this point had been in younger men whose infections were picked up after they sought assist for lesions at sexual well being clinics.

Heymann, who can be a professor of infectious diseases on the London Faculty of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, mentioned the monkeypox outbreak was probably a random event that might be traceable to a single an infection.

“It’s very possible there was anyone who bought infected, developed lesions on the genitals, palms or somewhere else, and then spread it to others when there was sexual or close, bodily contact,” Heymann hypothesized. “And then there have been these worldwide occasions that seeded the outbreak all over the world, into the U.S. and other European nations.”

He emphasised that the disease was unlikely to trigger widespread transmission.

“This is not COVID,” he mentioned. “We have to sluggish it down, but it surely does not spread within the air and we now have vaccines to guard in opposition to it.”

Heymann stated studies should be performed quickly to determine if monkeypox could possibly be unfold by folks without signs and that populations prone to the disease ought to take precautions to guard themselves.

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Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, and Frank Jordans and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, contributed to this report.