Monkeypox has been made a notifiable disease in England, effective from Wednesday, meaning doctors and laboratories will be legally required to alert authorities if they identify a suspected case.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Tuesday that doctors will have to notify their local council or local health protection team if they suspect someone has the disease. Labs will also have to notify the UKHSA if the monkeypox virus is detected in a sample.
Monkeypox, a disease that is endemic in parts of Africa, has recently appeared in around 30 countries where it is not endemic.
Since May 7, at least 911 confirmed or suspected cases have been reported from Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and Australia, with 302 confirmed cases in the UK.
Most of these cases (287) were found in England, with 10 cases identified in Scotland, three detected in Wales, and two confirmed in Northern Ireland.
The UKHSA said the legislation making monkeypox a notifiable infectious disease was laid on Tuesday.
“Rapid diagnosis and reporting is the key to interrupting transmission and containing any further spread of monkeypox,” Wendi Shepherd, monkeypox incident director at UKHSA, said.
Shepherd said the new legislation will support the agency and its health partners to “swiftly identify, treat, and control the disease.”
She also said the legislation will help with “the swift collection and analysis of data which enables us to detect possible outbreaks of the disease and trace close contacts rapidly, whilst offering vaccinations where appropriate to limit onward transmission.”
The UKHSA previously said it purchased over 20,000 doses of a smallpox vaccine supplied by vaccine company Bavarian Nordic and was offering them to close contacts of confirmed cases.
The guidance also said the vaccine has been used in the UK in response to previous incidents.
Monkeypox does not transmit easily among humans, but being in close contact with a patient or items they used, such as clothes, bedding, or utensils, can result in transmission.
