London: A new strain of monkeypox has been identified in the UK.
Health officials said on Friday that the concerned individual, who was diagnosed with the virus, had recently travelled to West Africa.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said preliminary genomic sequencing indicates that this new case does not have the current outbreak strain circulating in the UK.
The infected person has been admitted to the High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) unit at Royal Liverpool University Hospital, as per standing advice from the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP).
“We are working to contact the individuals who have had close contact with the case prior to confirmation of their infection, to assess them as necessary and provide advice,” said UKHSA Incident Director Dr Sophia Maki.
“UKHSA and the NHS (National Health Service) have well established and robust infection-control procedures for dealing with cases of imported infectious disease and these will be strictly followed and the risk to the general public is very low. We remind everyone who is planning to travel to West and Central Africa to be alert for the symptoms of monkeypox and to call 111 if you have symptoms on your return,” she added.
An international group of medical experts from 16 countries has identified single genital lesions and sores on the mouth or anus as symptoms of the virus.
World Health Organization estimates say over 50,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from around 90 countries so far.
