Preliminary findings of the study, published in the journal BMJ, show that isolation from many monkeypox infections can no longer be prevented after the onset of symptoms.
The study was conducted in the United Kingdom, which was the first country outside of Africa to have a number of cases in May this year. Researchers from the UK Health Authority examined data on transmission tracking and surveys from 2,746 people in the UK who tested positive for monkeypox between May and August.
About 95 percent of study participants were men who had sex with men—a group hard hit by the current global monkeypox epidemic.
Monkeypox is a much less dangerous relative of smallpox, which has been eradicated for nearly 40 years. Typical symptoms of the disease include high fever, swollen lymph nodes and chickenpox-like pustules.
The disease is transmitted through close body and skin contact. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), young men who have sex with young men are particularly affected. If monkeypox is left untreated, symptoms usually go away on their own after two to four weeks.
While the disease was predominantly found in West and Central Africa until this year, it spread to other countries as of May. However, numbers in Western Europe and North America, which are particularly affected, have been falling since July. Since May, WHO has counted more than 77,000 cases in 109 countries, 36 of them fatal.
According to the latest figures from the Federal Office of Public Health, about 550 cases of monkeypox have been recorded in Switzerland. The number of cases has decreased in recent weeks compared to summer.
(SDA)