Those travelling abroad have been cautioned about the risk of monkeypox in busy tourist spots in Europe.
Scots have been warned that the disease has surprisingly sprung up in 20 unlikely destinations, including Europe.
Outbreaks of the virus, which is considered life threatening, have been found at popular festivals in countries like Spain, Italy and Belgium.
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The spike in cases has been described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “a highly unusual event.”
WHO’s European director, Dr Hans Henri Kluge, said that packed summer events such as festivals and parties could exacerbate the problem and worsen the spread, the Sun reports.
Dr Kluge said: "I am concerned that transmission could accelerate, as the cases currently being detected are among those engaging in sexual activity, and the symptoms are unfamiliar to many."
When quizzed on the impact of Brits attending holidays or festivals, chief medical adviser Dr Susan Hopkins said people “need to be alert” to the virus.
Dr Hopkins, of the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA), told the BBC: “The risk to the general population [from monkeypox] remains extremely low.
“People need to be alert to it, and we really want clinicians to be alert to it.”
The UK government has said that they are not looking at organising a Cobra emergency committee for the monkeypox outbreak or to put any travel bans in place.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "No, no considerations of that kind.
"What we're seeing at the moment is community transmission not linked to travel."
In the past, there were around eight confirmed cases of monkeypox in the UK, with most being linked to travel from West Africa.
But at the present moment, there are at least 57 cases in the UK, with the reason behind the contraction of the virus being different from traditional means.
The UKHSA has calmed fears however by saying that the risk to the public is “low” despite the fact that community transmission has already taken place in the UK.
Although experts predict that several others will be diagnosed in the near future.
Medical officials have said that the virus seems to be disproportionately affecting gay and bisexual men.
As a result, men having sex with other men have been warned to check for new rashes that have appeared without a valid reason.
It has been stated that monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease but that it can be shared through skin contact during sexual intercourse.
Symptoms have been reported as flu-like with rashes filled with blisters spreading throughout the body.
Dr Hopkins responded to concerns after popular European holiday destinations were marked as areas that have experienced an outbreak of the virus.
The WHO reported yesterday (Monday 23 May) that there are around 100 cases in Europe and North America.
The latest peculiar outbreak of monkeypox may be explained by sexual contact at two recent large events in Europe, according to a WHO adviser.
They said a Pride festival in Spain which saw 80,000 individuals in attendance was thought to be linked with a variety of cases in Madrid, Tenerife and Italy.
On another occasion, an outbreak of the virus in the Malasaña neighbourhood of Madrid was followed back to a sauna - which has since been shut.
A report created by the German government, which was accessed by the AP, says that the transmission of the virus "mainly appears to lie with sexual contacts among men”.
Belgian officials have stated that three confirmed cases were traced back to a big fetish festival in the city of Antwerp, it was reported last week.
The former head of the WHO’s emergencies department, Dr David Heymann, said that the main theory behind the spread of the disease is that it was transmitted among men sleeping with men at parties held in Spain and Belgium.
Dr Heymann said to the AP monkeypox is most commonly spread through skin-to-skin contact with lesions of someone who has the virus - he added that intercourse seems to have worsened the problem.
The virus is most commonly found in Central and Western Africa, where it is found to spread from wild animals to humans.
The Financial Times has stated that the EU’s infectious-disease agency is planning on telling its members to to put a vaccination programme in place.
The vaccines would be created using an already existing smallpox vaccine that can protect against monkeypox by as high a rate as 85%.
Monkeypox and smallpox are similar in the symptoms they cause however the latter was eradicated in the 1980’s thanks to vaccines,
However the UK government has said that they are not looking to put any “at scale” vaccination programmes in place.
This is despite the fact that Sajid Javid, the current Health Secretary, said that he was aiming to secure around 25,000 smallpox vaccines.
A PM spokesperson said: "We do have vaccines procured at significant numbers.
"But given the nature of this and how we know it's spreading, it's thought to be no clinical requirement for that sort of at scale campaign."
The WHO announced that the virus spreads are atypical, as they are popping up in nations where the virus does not traditionally spread.
Nonetheless, medical professionals are trying to come to terms with the origin of the most recent cases and whether the virus has evolved in any way.
However there is no evidence or study that insinuates monkeypox has mutated.
WHO said confirmed cases have so far been the less severe West African group of monkeypox viruses.
MP Simon Clarke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said this was not "some repeat of Covid".
He said: "We are certainly not in a position where I would in anyway worry the public that this is some repeat of Covid, because it certainly does not appear to be anywhere near the same platform of seriousness."
