Belgium introduces compulsory monkeypox quarantines as its spread continues to baffle global leaders
Belgium has become the first country to introduce a compulsory quarantine for people diagnosed with monkeypox, as the disease continues to spread seemingly randomly across the globe.
Belgian health authorities said that if they are diagnosed with monkeypox, Belgian residents will be required to self-isolate for 21 days, the Daily Mail reported.
Belgium recorded its first infection of monkeypox this past Friday, and it is believed that all subsequent cases are connected to a festival that was held in the port city of Antwerp.
The Belgian quarantine policy comes as European doctors have warned that Great Britain is facing a “significant” rise in monkeypox infections and that the British government’s response is “critical” in containing the spread.
This past weekend, 11 British residents tested positive for the virus, bringing the country’s total up to 20. The infected include a child who is currently in critical condition in a London hospital.
There are currently 100 recorded infections in Europe.
Suggesting that the disease might be spreading through sexual transmission, Dr. Claire Dewsnap, the president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, said that the recent monkeypox outbreak could have a “massive impact” on access to sexual health services in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Susan Hopkins, a chief medical adviser to the U.K. Health Security Agency, also warned that monkeypox is spreading through community transmission.
Dewsnap recently said that “[Britain’s] response is really critical here. There is going to be more diagnoses over the next week.”
She said, “How many is hard to say. What worries me the most is there are infections across Europe, so this has already spread. It’s already circulating in the general population. Getting on top of all those people’s contacts is a massive job.”
Dewsnap suggested that case numbers could greatly increase in the coming weeks. She said, “It could be really significant numbers over the next two or three weeks.”
President Joe Biden is also concerned about the growing case numbers of monkeypox.
This past weekend, just before he left South Korea, Biden said, “Everybody should be concerned about it.”
He said, “We’re working on it, hard to figure out what we do.”
Joe Biden says 'everybody should be concerned' about the recent spread of monkeypox that is leaving experts clueless
On Sunday, President Joe Biden said the recent outbreak of monkeypox should concern “everybody,” as it continues to confuse medical experts around the world.
Fox News reported that while speaking with a group of reporters in South Korea before boarding Air Force One for Japan, Biden said, “Everybody should be concerned about [it].”
Biden’s remarks come as large monkeypox outbreaks were reported in Africa, with some cases also being reported in Europe and the U.S.
Biden said, “We’re working on it, hard to figure out what we do.”
There are currently 80 confirmed cases of the disease worldwide and at least 50 suspected cases. The U.S. has only currently confirmed two cases after a man in Massachusetts was diagnosed with the disease and a second man in New York City tested positive for it.
The man from Massachusetts is reported to have traveled to Canada before coming down with the disease.
Monkeypox cases have also been reported in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, and Australia. Reportedly, none of the people coming down with the disease have any travel history to Africa, where the virus is most present.
Oyewale Tomori, a virologist and World Health Organization (WHO) advisory board member, said, “I’m stunned by this. Every day I wake up, and there are more countries infected.”
The virologist noted that the seemingly large presence of monkeypox in Western countries among people who have not traveled to Africa is perplexing.
Tomori added, “This is not the kind of spread we’ve seen in West Africa, so there may be something new happening in the West.”
Christian Happi, the director of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, agreed with Tomori that monkeypox’s seemingly spontaneous emergence in the West is perplexing. He said he has “never seen anything like what’s happening in Europe.”
Although it is unlikely someone will die from the disease, WHO data estimates that monkeypox could be fatal for up to one-in-ten people. However, monkeypox’s similarity to smallpox may enable recipients of smallpox vaccines to receive some protection from the virus.
Reportedly, symptoms of monkeypox appear one to two weeks after the initial infection occurs and invovle flu-like symptoms including fever, headaches, and shortness of breath. After about five days of infection, a “skin eruption phase” begins when a rash starts to appear and often spreads to different areas of the infected person’s body.
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