It comes as another 16 cases of monkeypox have been spotted in the UK, pushing the total above 100. Mateo Prochazka, head of the UK Health Security Agency, is urging worried Britons to use local sexual health services rather than 111 so its staff can focus more on handling other health queries. The Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) group said these animals were at the highest risk of catching the virus, and they could spread it into wild populations. Meanwhile, a scientific group advising the UK Government has called for the pet hamsters, rabbits and other rodents owned by infected patients to be isolated for three weeks. ‘There are other potential routes of trying to get yourself into the system, maybe calling NHS 111, but this resource has been really overloaded with everyone calling who had a rash,’ he added, during a webinar hosted by Prepster, a volunteer group of London-based HIV prevention campaigners. Anyone can be seen in a sexual health clinic, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or identity. Mr Prochazka told The Daily Telegraph: ‘Sexual health clinics are not just for gay and bisexual men. The majority are among gay and bisexual men. Health chiefs are alarmed about the ever-growing cluster of cases, given that until now the smallpox-like infection was confined to a handful of people with travel links to Africa. Wales and Northern Ireland declared their first cases on Thursday, while Scotland has so far logged three. The UKHSA said the new patients were all based in England. There have been 106 across Britain since the first was detected on May 6.
It comes as another 16 cases of monkeypox have been spotted in the UK, pushing the total above 100 – as health officials plan to start isolating infected people’s pets.