Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Monkeypox: Time to worry or one to ignore?

Monkeypox: Time to worry or one to ignore?

If you're still reeling from the Covid pandemic, well sorry but there's another virus to get to grips with. This time it's monkeypox and there are around 80 confirmed cases in 11 countries, including the UK, that would not normally expect to have the disease.

So what is going on? Is it time to worry or are we getting overly excited having just lived through Covid?

Let's be clear: this is not another Covid and we're not days away from lockdowns to contain the spread of monkeypox.

However, this is an unusual and unprecedented monkeypox outbreak. It has taken scientists who specialise in the disease by complete surprise and it is always a concern when a virus changes its behaviour.

Until now, monkeypox was pretty predictable.

The virus's natural home is wild animals, which are actually thought to be rodents rather than monkeys. Somebody in the rainforests of Western and Central Africa comes into contact with an infected creature and the virus makes the jump across species. Their skin erupts in a rash, which blisters and then scabs over.

The virus is now outside its usual home and struggles to spread so it needs prolonged close contact to keep going. So outbreaks tend to be small and burn out on their own.

Small numbers of cases have cropped up elsewhere in the world before, including the UK, but all can be immediately linked to somebody travelling to an affected country and bringing it home.

That is no longer the case.

*  For the first time the virus is being found in people with no clear connection to Western and Central Africa

*  It is not clear who people are catching it from

*  Monkeypox is spreading during sexual activities with most cases having lesions on their genitals and the surrounding area

*  Many of those affected are gay and bisexual young men

"We're in a very new situation, that is a surprise and a worry," Prof Sir Peter Horby, the director of the University of Oxford's Pandemic Sciences Institute, told me.

While he says this is "not Covid-Two", he said "we need to act" to prevent the virus getting a foothold as this is "something we really want to avoid".

Dr Hugh Adler, who has treated patients with monkeypox, agrees: "It's not a pattern we've seen before - this is a surprise."


So what's going on?


We know this outbreak is different, but we don't know why.

There's two broad options - the virus has changed or the same old virus has found itself in the right place at the right time to thrive.

Monkeypox is a DNA virus so it does not mutate as rapidly as Covid or flu. Very early genetic analysis suggests the current cases are very closely related to forms of the virus seen in 2018 and 2019. It is too early to be sure, but for now there is no evidence this is a new mutant variant at play.

But a virus doesn't have to change in order to take advantage of an opportunity, as we have learned from unexpected large outbreaks of both Ebola and Zika virus in the last decade.

"We always thought Ebola was easy to contain, until that wasn't the case," said Prof Adam Kucharski, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

It's not clear why gay and bisexual men are disproportionately affected. Are sexual behaviours making it easier to spread? Is it just coincidence? Is it a community that is more aware of sexual health and getting checked out?

It may also be getting easier for monkeypox to spread. The mass smallpox vaccinations of the past would have given older generations some protection against the closely related monkeypox.

"It is probably transmitting more effectively than in the smallpox era, but we're not seeing anything suggesting it could run rampant," said Dr Adler, who still expects this outbreak to burn itself out.

The rash changes and goes through different stages, and can look like chickenpox or syphilis, before finally forming a scab, which later falls off


Understanding how this outbreak started will help predict what happens next.

We know we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg as the cases being detected don't fit into a neat picture of this person passed it on to that person etc. Instead many of the cases appear unrelated, so there are missing links in a chain that seems to spread across Europe and beyond.

A recent massive superspreading event, in which large numbers of people gathered and caught monkeypox at the same venue such as a festival and then took it home to different countries, could explain the current situation.

The alternative explanation for so many unconnected people getting infected is if the virus has actually been bubbling along unnoticed for quite some time involving a lot of people.

Either way, we can expect to continue to find more cases.

"I don't think the general public need to be worried at this stage, but I don't think we've uncovered all of this and we are not in control of this," said Prof Jimmy Whitworth, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

But remember we are not in the same situation as we were with Covid.

Monkeypox is a known virus rather than a new one, and we already have vaccines and treatments. It is mostly mild, although it can be more dangerous in young children, pregnant women and people with weak immune systems.

But it spreads more slowly than Covid and the distinctive and painful rash makes it harder to miss than a cough that could be anything. This makes the job of finding people who may have been infected and vaccinating those at risk of catching it easier.

However, the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, has warned that "as we enter the summer season... with mass gatherings, festivals and parties, I am concerned that transmission could accelerate".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
×