JAKARTA – Britain is offering a smallpox vaccine to health workers and others who may be exposed to monkeypox as the disease spreads in parts of Europe.
According to the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA), there is no specific vaccine for monkeypox, but World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that the vaccine used to eradicate smallpox is 85 percent effective against monkeypox.
“Those who need the vaccine have been offered,” said a UKHSA spokesman, without elaborating on how many people had been vaccinated so far.
Monkeypox is a viral disease that is usually mild and is characterized by fever and a characteristic bumpy rash.
There are two main variants. The more severe Congolese variant has a mortality rate of up to 10 percent and the West African variant which has a mortality rate of about 1 percent.
First identified in monkeys, the disease is usually spread by close contact and occurs mostly in west and central Africa.
Because monkeypox rarely spreads elsewhere, a spate of new cases outside the continent has sparked concern.
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In the UK, nine cases of the West African variant have been reported so far. The first European case of monkeypox was confirmed on 7 May in a person who returned to the UK from Nigeria, where monkeypox is endemic.
Since then, Portugal has recorded 14 cases and Spain has confirmed seven. The United States and Sweden also reported one case each. Italian authorities have confirmed one case, and suspect two more.
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