Analysis

Monkeypox outbreak may persist – but it’s in our power to end it

A ‘lot of work’ is required to get the spread of monkeypox under control. As the experts say, it won’t simply vanish overnight

Thursday 02 June 2022 10:29 BST
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<p>People have been urged to avoid sex from the first sign of monkeypox symptoms</p>

People have been urged to avoid sex from the first sign of monkeypox symptoms

It’s not the news we needed after a two-year-long pandemic, but the growing consensus out there among the experts is that the UK’s monkeypox outbreak could well last for a number of months.

Most believe that the spread of infections will eventually be brought under control – and certainly won’t go the way of Covid-19 – but a “lot of work” will be required to get to this point, says Professor John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and scientific adviser to the government.

“You’re not going to get rid of it overnight,” he told The Independent. “It’s going to take a good couple of months of really solid work to chase up all the infections and contacts and stamp it out.

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