Doctor issues advice to parents over monkeypox outbreak
manchestereveningnews.co.ukThere are now 71 confirmed cases of monkeypox reported in the UK, the UK Health Security Agency said on Tuesday. Experts have advised parents not to worry about their children catching the disease as cases in youngsters are still rare.
Researchers who have been looking into the current outbreak, as well as past cases of the disease, say it is rare in children.
It is more likely that a rash will be down to chickenpox or hand, foot and mouth disease. Dr David Porter, a paediatric infectious diseases consultant at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “As a parent with a child that might develop a rash, I don’t think parents should be worried about this being…monkeypox at this stage, because we’re seeing a very low number of cases. READ MORE: Medics 'can't access patient files, prescribe or get test results' as huge hospital IT failure becomes 'critical incident' “And in all the previous outbreaks that have occurred outside of Africa over the last few years, we’ve seen very rare numbers of cases in children, so it’s been predominantly in adults anyway.
And without any contact history with somebody that’s known or strongly felt to have monkeypox, and then if you’ve got a rash at this time of year when we’ve seen lots of rashes from chickenpox and other things in children, hand, foot and mouth disease, then that’s what it’s likely to be.” Dr Porter said that if children have a rash and no contact history with someone who has had monkeypox, parents and carers should be reassured and follow what they normally do, reports Wales Online.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk
