The CDC says it's concerned about an unusual outbreak of monkeypox in the U.K.
The outbreak could spread beyond U.K. borders, the agency said, particularly because there appears to be some undetected spread of the virus.
"We do have a level of concern that this is very different than what we typically think of from monkeypox," Jennifer McQuiston, DVM, a senior CDC official, told STAT News, the outlet reported Tuesday.
"And I think we have some concern that there could be spread outside the U.K. associated with this," she said.
U.S. health officials are monitoring six Americans for potential monkeypox infection after they shared a flight with a British patient who tested positive for the virus. They sat within a three-row radius of the patient on a flight from Nigeria to the U.K. on May 4. The U.S. patients likely don't have the virus but will be monitored for 21 days, McQuiston told STAT.
Seven confirmed cases and one probable case have been reported in the U.K. since early May, which is unusual and considered a large number since human monkeypox cases are rare, especially outside of West and Central Africa.
The first U.K. patient had recently traveled to Nigeria, where monkeypox is endemic, but the others appear to have gotten the virus in the U.K., STAT reported. None of the people who were infected domestically have known connections with the traveler, and the timing suggests that the traveler wasn't the source of the other cases.
