Monkeypox: What we know about the smallpox-like virus spreading in the UK

Two more cases of monkeypox - a rare viral infection related to smallpox - have been confirmed in England, health authorities in the UK confirmed on Saturday.

It comes after the first case was detected in a person who recently flew into the UK from Nigeria on May 7.

The patient received specialist care in an isolation unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ infectious disease hospital unit in London, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The UKHSA didn’t release any details about the person’s sex or age but said it was working to identify anyone who has been in close contact with the infected patient, including people who travelled on the same flight.

The latest cases are from the same household but are not linked to the earlier case. Of the two patients, one was receiving treatment at St Mary's Hospital in London while the other one was isolating, UKHSA said.

Public Health Scotland has now begun assisting in tracing contacts of one of the patients north of the border where "a small number of individuals" were now in quarantine, a standard procedure the agency said.

Monkeypox is a relative of smallpox, a disease which was eradicated in 1980, but is less transmissible, causes milder symptoms and is less deadly.

The illness typically lasts for two to four weeks and symptoms can appear anywhere from five to 21 days after infection.

Monkeypox symptoms usually begin with a mix of fever, headaches, muscle aches, backache, chills, exhaustion, and swollen lymph nodes.

This latter symptom is typically what helps doctors distinguish monkeypox from chickenpox or smallpox, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Once you have a fever, the key feature of monkeypox, a nasty rash, tends to develop one to three days later, often