Community transmission of monkeypox in the United Kingdom, April to May 2022
Roberto Vivancos, Charlotte Anderson, Paula Blomquist, Sooria Balasegaram, Anita Bell, Louise Bishop, Colin Brown, Yimmy Chow, Obaghe Edeghere, Isaac Florence, Sarah Logan, Petra Manley, William Crowe, Andrew McAuley, Ananda Giri Shankar, Borja Mora‐Peris, Karthik Paranthaman, Mateo Prochazka, Cian Ryan, David Simons, Richard Vipond, Chloe Byers, Nicholas A. Watkins, UKHSA Monkeypox Incident Management team, William Welfare, Elizabeth Whittaker, Claire Dewsnap, Allegra Wilson, Yvonne Young, Meera Chand, Steven Riley, Susan Hopkins
Abstract
Between 7 and 25 May, 86 monkeypox cases were confirmed in the United Kingdom (UK). Only one case is known to have travelled to a monkeypox virus (MPXV) endemic country. Seventy-nine cases with information were male and 66 reported being gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men. This is the first reported sustained MPXV transmission in the UK, with human-to-human transmission through close contacts, including in sexual networks. Improving case ascertainment and onward-transmission preventive measures are ongoing.