UK monkeypox alert as health chiefs detect another FOUR monkeypox cases 

Four more people have been diagnosed with monkeypox in the UK, bringing the total number of cases detected in the last week to seven.

MailOnline understands all four of the new cases are gay or bisexual men with no apparent travel links to Africa.

They are not linked to the previous three cases but two of the new patients are known to each other.

Monkeypox is a rare viral infection which kills up to one in ten of those infected but does not spread easily between people (file photo)

Initial symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

A rash can develop, which changes and goes through different stages before finally forming a scab, which later falls off.

The first case of monkeypox in a human was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has since been detected in a number of central and wester African countries.

Most cases are reported in the DRC and Nigeria.

In 2003, the disease was detected in the US when an outbreak occurred following the importation of rodents from Africa.

The first cases were detected in the UK in 2018, when three people contracted the virus after a man travelled back from Nigeria including an NHS nurse who had been caring for a patient and blamed her PPE.

The incident meant more than 50 people were warned they had been exposed to the potentially deadly virus however no other cases were recorded from that outbreak.

A further case was detected in London in December 2019 and another two cases were detected in North Wales in 2021. All cases were thought to have been caught by travellers who had been to Nigeria.

More to follow