One man who has managed to dodge testing positive for Covid-19 has told of his experience contracting monkeypox.
George, who is not using his real name, said he first noticed a black, scabby lesion and tried to Google his symptoms.
The 29-year-old said he feared it was a sexually transmitted infection as doctors were baffled when he went to a sexual health clinic.
He says he wasn't getting any answers, despite his growing list of symptoms.
George says he was fatigued, had horrible back pain and a "nasty-looking" black lesion had developed in his groin.
He says he also had a spot-like sore break out over his right elbow, stomach and back.
The healthcare worker says it was only caught when he went into a hopsital for a secondary throat infection.
He told The Daily Telegraph : "[When I was in hospital] I got a call from the sexual health doctor who said, ‘I think this might be monkeypox’".
“Suddenly everyone was in PPE and taking it incredibly seriously.”
George is on the first to speak publicly about contracting the virus after James McFadzean came forward the UK's first patient.
George tested positive for monkeypox on May 19 and stayed at the Royal Free Hospital in the infectious disease ward.
He said: "I feel like I managed to dodge Covid, but then suddenly I had monkeypox – at this point, there were, like, less than 10 people confirmed in the UK."
Describing his time during isolation, George said: "It felt very much like a Covid situation. One flatmate had gloves, a mask, everything, and asked me to wear that too. It was stressing me out… I felt a lot of pressure to leave, unfortunately, and isolate somewhere else.”
After three weeks, he was finally allowed to leave and said he had "really missed the wind" on his face.
More than 300 Brits have so far been infected with monkeypox in what is the largest outbreak in any country outside of Africa.
Monkeypox has now become a 'notifiable disease' in the UK, meaning doctors must tell local health authorities about suspected cases.
Last week the UK Health Security Agency released new guidance that advised any Brits with the virus to stop having sex immediately.
They should wait until their lesions have healed and scabs have dried off, before partaking once more.
The guidance comes because the highest risk of transmission of the virus is through direct physical contact, meaning sex could pose as a hotbed for spreading it - but it is not an STI.
George, who identifies as gay, says he believes he knows where he contracted monkeypox.
He said he and his friend went to Madrid at the beginning of May and went to a sauna that was later described as a monkeypox superspreader event.
Wendi Shepherd, monkeypox incident director at UKHSA, said: "Rapid diagnosis and reporting is the key to interrupting transmission and containing any further spread of monkeypox.
"This new legislation will support us and our health partners to swiftly identify, treat and control the disease.
"It also supports us with the swift collection and analysis of data which enables us to detect possible outbreaks of the disease and trace close contacts rapidly, whilst offering vaccinations where appropriate to limit onward transmission."
