UK Health Officials Designate Monkeypox As 'Notifiable' Disease, Upgrade Severity To Leprosy, Plague Level: Report

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) designated monkeypox as a notifiable disease and upgraded the disease severity to the levels of leprosy and plague, on June 8, 2022.

The fact that monkeypox has been listed as a notifiable disease means that all doctors in England are required to notify their local council or local Health Protection Team (HPT) if they suspect a patient has monkeypox. | Representative Photo

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The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) designated monkeypox as a notifiable disease and upgraded the disease severity to the levels of leprosy and plague, on June 8, 2022. The health agency of the United Kingdom laid a legislation which makes monkeypox a notifiable infectious disease under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 from June 8, news agency IANS reported.

The UK has detected 321 cases of monkeypox as of June 7, according to the UKHSA. As many as 305 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in England, 11 in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland, and three in Wales.

What Happens Now That Monkeypox Has Been Listed As ‘Notifiable’ Disease?

The fact that monkeypox has been listed as a notifiable disease means that all doctors in England are required to notify their local council or local Health Protection Team (HPT) if they suspect a patient has monkeypox. The UKHSA said that laboratories must also notify the health agency if the monkeypox virus is identified in a laboratory sample.

In a statement released by the UKHSA, Wendi Shepherd, monkeypox incident director at the agency, said that rapid diagnosis and reporting is the key to interruption transmission and containing any further spread of monkeypox. "This new legislation will support us and our health partners to swiftly identify, treat and control the disease," she added.

"It also supports us with the swift collection and analysis of data which enables us to detect possible outbreaks of the disease and trace close contacts rapidly, whilst offering vaccinations where appropriate to limit onward transmission," Shepherd further said.

Monkeypox Is Elevated To The Same Legal Status As 33 Other Diseases

Designating monkeypox as a notifiable disease elevates it to the same legal status as 33 other diseases which are listed as "notifiable" under the UK's health protection regulations, the IANS report said. These diseases include leprosy, malaria, rabies, plague and yellow fever, among others.

On March 5, 2020, Covid-19 was also made a notifiable disease. This was before the UK went into lockdown. 

According to a report published by The Telegraph, Dr Meaghan Kall, an epidemiologist at the UKHSA, said the latest move has "no direct link to (disease control) measures" and should not be interpreted as a precursor to coronavirus-like restrictions.

Dr Kall added that it just means clinicians and laboratories have a statutory requirement to report cases, and that cases need to be monitored for "surveillance and (epidemiological) purposes. 

Following the latest move by the UKHSA, all overseas visitors who are diagnosed or treated for monkeypox will be exempt from charges.