Following the news that the number of monkeypox cases has doubled to 20 in the UK, and over 100 cases have been confirmed in Europe;

Emily Martyn, MPH, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“Even though monkeypox is in the news as it is the largest outbreak in Europe, the media and the public must be mindful that this is a rare, manageable disease that most frequently occurs in animal-to-human contact. Human-to-human transmission only occurs in approximately 28% of cases, and this is with very close contact to the infected person (such as via bodily fluids).

“A vaccine does exist. The vaccine, Jynneos, is developed by the European biotech firm Bavarian Nordic. It is a Live Attenuated Vaccine that also provides immunity against smallpox. Many countries are now buying units just in case of larger outbreaks. In addition, monkeypox is manageable as it is usually a self-limited disease with symptoms lasting between 2 to 4 weeks. Symptoms are mainly managed with antibiotics and hydration therapy.

“Additionally, national and international health services can utilize their existing COVID-19 systems to work together to address and control this issue quickly and effectively. For now, people should be aware of the outbreak but do not need to be overly concerned until more information is analysed and we understand the outbreak further as we are still in the early days for an outbreak of a very difficult to transmit disease.”

Listen to Emily Martyn discuss this topic in GlobalData’s podcast: Instant Insights. The podcast can be found on Youtube and Spotify.