The first person to go public with having monkey pox is a 35-year-old British man identified as James M.
The HR manager who withheld his surname, said he caught the virus after he was deported from Dubai for testing positive for HIV.
James, who is gay, said he initially thought he had a sexually transmitted infection as he had slept with around 10 partners before developing symptoms.
“I’m a gay man, and having just come back to the UK, I was having a good time,” he told MailOnline.
However, when he visited a local clinic in West London, he was referred to a specialist centre in Soho and was told to avoid public transport or close contact with others.
He said,
When I got to the clinic I was told to go and wait outside the main door and call them, they said they were going to put on PPE and they told me not to touch door handles.
‘The whole experience kind of heightens your sense of, “oh this must be really serious”. I remember going to Covid centres and it wasn’t as daunting or overwhelming as this.”
After the test, the medics told him to go home and wait for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to contact him.
However, James said no one has contacted him till date and slammed the UKHSA for not being proactive in their attempt to stop the virus which is spreading fast in the UK.
He also accused the UK of a lack of awareness about monkeypox’s lesser-known symptoms, and says the careless attitude of the UK is responsible for the country having more cases than African countries.
“It’s no wonder now we’re getting so many more infections if no contact tracing or awareness about you not needing the spots to have the virus being told to people.
No-one’s asked me who I’ve been in contact with. I was told that within 24 hours of my diagnosis someone from UKHSA would call me.
I’ve called the clinic every day, asking “why aren’t they calling me, I’m not allowed outside and not allowed to go work. The UKHSA is not calling me, someone needs to document this,” he added.
James says he doesn’t know he caught the virus but suspects that he got it from one of his partners who had a spot on his chest.
As at the time of filing this report, the UK has logged 302 monkey pox cases – the highest number in Europe, followed by Spain (190), Portugal (143), Canada (80) and Germany (66).
