Denise Welch has hit out at what she has dubbed "scaremongering" over reports on the monkeypox virus.
The 64-year-old appeared on Loose Women today as she reacted to reports that high risk contacts of monkeypox patients are required to isolate for three weeks.
Monkeypox is not a new infection and has been known for decades, but the sudden spread of cases has caused alarm and is unexpected because of its wide geographic spread.
Taking part in the ITV show's panel alongside Judi Love, Kelle Bryan and Ruth Langsford, Denise declared she wasn't going to worry about it.
She said: "I don't think that it will surprise many people to know what my views are of the already scaremongering. And, believe you me, I do know the difference between reporting news and scaremongering.
"But there are certain words that are already being used which are used to generate fear. We used to talk about staying at home if you're poorly, now we talk about isolating, quarantining.
"We've just come out of a horrendous three years where people are trying to find some kind of mental balance after everything that was thrown at us with Covid - especially people like you Kelle, who have an immune disease and you have to be careful more than most people.
"But at the moment - and again, people will go 'Oh, listen to Professor Welch!' I've never professed to be like that. Mine has always been about how this affects mental health and I can see it starting again.
"So yesterday, I spoke to two very highly qualified people in infectious diseases who have said that they are very angry with already the way that they can see this happening in the press.
"In this moment there are very few cases - and it's something they should keep an eye on - there was also an outbreak in 2017 and 2018 and of course because we weren't on such high alert, we weren't so aware of it. Now we seem to be aware of absolutely everything. Personally, I'm not going to worry about it at the moment."
However, Kelle - who has autoimmune disease Lupus - said: "It doesn't frighten me but I'd rather be informed... because then I can be a little bit more conscious about it.
"For me I know that if I were to contract it it would be harder to get rid of it."
*Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV
