Monkeypox becomes legally notifiable disease

Wednesday 08 June 2022

Due to increased community transmission of monkeypox in the UK, the viral infection has now been listed as a notifiable disease, meaning any case must be notified to Guernsey’s Medical Officer of Health.

There have been no cases identified in the island yet, but Public Health says it’s likely that local cases will be recorded in the future.

Guernsey has followed the UK in making monkeypox a legally notifiable infectious disease.

Dr Nicola Brink is Guernsey’s Medical Officer of Health she said: “Listing monkeypox as a notifiable disease, and infection with the monkeypox virus as a notifiable infection, means that healthcare professionals must notify the Medical Officer of Health if they suspect a patient has monkeypox or the monkeypox virus is identified in a clinical sample.”

She said this will help Public Health manage any local cases.

Pictured: Dr Brink said: “The prompt and effective management of cases and contacts will enable us to interrupt chains of transmission and offer vaccination, where indicated.”

The incubation period for monkeypox – the time between contracting the virus and presenting symptoms – is between five and 21 days.

Severe illness can occur in some people, but most will recover within several weeks.

The public are being asked to be aware of the following symptoms: fever, headache, muscle ache, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

Pictured: The illness presents as a fever and commonly includes a rash that develops on the body.

Dr Brink continued: “Monkeypox is a viral infection that, until recently, has usually been associated with travel to West Africa.

“However, since early May 2022 over 1,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in multiple countries that are not endemic for monkeypox virus, including in the UK, Spain, Portugal and North America. 

“Epidemiological investigations are ongoing, however reported cases thus far have no established travel links to an endemic area. This is consistent with community transmission in multiple non-endemic countries in recent weeks, so we need to ensure we’re prepared and making the disease notifiable is part of that.”

If you suspect you might have monkeypox please contact their GP or the Orchard Centre on 227707.