A warning has issued to pet owners over the spread of monkeypox. Experts have warned the virus could become more common in Europe if the virus spreads to wildlife and pets.
Confirmed monkeypox cases in the UK have more than doubled to 57, from just 20, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Monday. Community transmission is understood to be taking place, particularly in urban areas.
However a Nottingham professor has offered his reassurance as Monkeypox continues to spread across the UK and Europe. Jonathan Ball, professor of virology at the University of Nottingham, described the spread as "unusual" but said it was very unlikely to be "Covid-like".
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But according to BirminghamLive, it could become more common should it spread to wildlife and pets. The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) urged people to “manage exposed pets and prevent the disease from being transmitted to wildlife” on Monday.
The ECDC said: “If human-to-animal transmission occurs, and the virus spreads in an animal population, there is a risk that the disease could become endemic in Europe. Rodents, and particularly species of the family of Sciuridae (squirrels) are likely to be suitable hosts, more so than humans, and transmission from humans to (pet) animals is theoretically possible.
“Such a spill-over event could potentially lead to the virus establishing in European wildlife and the disease becoming an endemic zoonosis. The probability of this spill-over event is very low.”
