Monkeypox outbreak fears grow as healthcare worker becomes third person to catch deadly disease in UK
A HOSPITAL worker is the first person to catch monkeypox in the UK and says “pathetically small” NHS gloves failed to protect her.
The healthcare assistant, 40, is thought to have caught the potentially fatal virus while changing bedding in Blackpool. Her husband, 50, has also fallen ill.
She is said to have complained about gloves provided by NHS chiefs.
She told a pal: “The gloves were too short to cover my arms and left my skin exposed while changing the bed. I think that’s how I got infected.
“They told us we weren’t at risk — but that’s obviously nonsense. I’m terrified about what may happen to me and my family.”
Last night medics feared the woman’s partner, 50, also has the disease after his face broke out in spots.
Symptoms of monkeypox — which is similar to smallpox, kills up to one in ten victims and has swept Nigeria — include scabbing, fever, headache, muscle aches and chills.
The hospital worker — a married mum of one from Fleetwood, Lancs — is the third person to be diagnosed with the virus in the UK, but the first to be infected here.
She is currently being treated in isolation at a specialist unit at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, where she was rushed on Tuesday by emergency staff wearing biohazard gear.
The woman had developed severe flu-like symptoms after working at the Blackpool hospital which diagnosed one of the two earlier victims — both of whom caught the virus in Nigeria before travelling to the UK.
Officials at Public Health England had insisted the risk of infection was low and that there was “no risk to other staff, patients or visitors”.
But they appeared to U-turn by saying the new infection was “not wholly unexpected”.
The healthcare worker’s friend said: “Workers at the hospital believe they’ve been lied to and no longer have any faith in what Public Health England is saying.
“They were told they were not at risk and only needed to worry if they were having sex with an infected person or kissing them. But that is clearly not the case as she only changed the sheets.
“She has expressed concerns that the hospital failed to protect her properly as she was working with gloves that were pathetically small.
“She’s in a lot of pain and has scabs on her face, up her nose and over her body. She and her family are worried and distressed.
“Doctors, nurses and health officials have no experience of treating the disease in the UK and appear to be making things up as they go.
“It’s all very worrying. Other doctors and nurses are now terrified they may have caught this killer disease and could have already passed it on to their partner or children.”
MONKEYPOX: Signs of the deadly disease
MONKEYPOX is a virus that can prove fatal - especially if young and old fall sick.
It's similar to smallpox, the highly-contagious and deadly disease that was eradicated in the 80s.
But monkeypox is still wide spread in villages of Central and West Africa.
It's more prevalent in areas close to tropical rainforests where there is frequent contact with infected animals.
The disease doesn't pass easily from person-to-person, making a human outbreak unlikely.
Symptoms:
The symptoms of monkeypox last for about 14 to 21 days, they include:
- fever
- intense headache
- swollen lymph nodes
- back pain
- muscle aches
- intense lack of energy
- lesions on the face that spread to the rest of the body
The lesions eventually turn into pus-filled blisters before they scab over.
Treatment:
There are no specific treatments or vaccines for monkeypox, but outbreaks can be controlled.
Vaccination against smallpox has been proven to be 85 per cent effective in preventing monkeypox in the past.
But the vaccine is no longer available to the general public after smallpox was eradicated.
Source: World Health Organisation
The healthcare worker’s diagnosis is said to have sparked panic among other staff on the Blackpool isolation unit where an infected patient was admitted three weeks ago.
Most monkeypox patients recover within a few weeks, but it can be deadly — particularly in vulnerable patients like the young and elderly.
PHE said the worker’s case was detected by increased surveillance of staff. But a source said she was diagnosed by her GP when she fell ill.
PHE’s Dr Nick Phin said: “This worker cared for the patient before a diagnosis of monkeypox was made.
“We have been actively monitoring contacts for 21 days after exposure to detect anyone presenting with an illness so they can be assessed quickly.
“It is therefore not wholly unexpected that a case has been identified.”
The first monkeypox patient was taken to London’s Royal Free Hospital after being diagnosed in Cornwall this month. Days later the second was taken to Royal Liverpool University Hospital after a diagnosis in Blackpool.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of charitable health foundation Wellcome, said: “This third case of monkeypox is worrying and an important reminder of the threat posed by infectious diseases in our connected world.
“While cases are rare, it is one of a number of diseases for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.”
But the risk of transmission of the disease to the general population is low, PHE added.
"We have always said that the risk of transmission of monkeypox to the general population is very low and this has not changed," a spokesman said.
"Monkeypox can be spread when someone is in close contact with an infected person.
"As a precaution we have been monitoring all those who have had close contact with the cases to assess their health so that we can take appropriate action if they display any symptoms.
Officials are instead tracing people who have been in contact with affected patients so they can give them information directly.
They hope to trace everybody who had been in contact with the three infected cases in the 24 hours before they developed a rash. It is only at this point that they become infectious.
They remain a risk until the rash has scabbed over and fallen off around 14 to 21 days later.
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