Hospital urgently tracing anyone in contact with A&E patient with Mpox virus (2025)

Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge is contacting around 30 patients and 20 members of staff who were in contact with a patient with Mpox, a rare viral infection

Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge has launched an urgent effort to identify patients and staff who might have been exposed to a person with mpox after their visit to the A&E department.

The hospital management at Addenbrooke's, which is run by the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has been reaching out to approximately 30 patients and 20 staff members who may be at risk following the infected person's appearance on Saturday evening (12 April). The situation has also been reported to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

A trust spokesperson commented: "We are in contact with around 30 patients and 20 staff as a precautionary measure after a patient with Mpox visited our emergency department on Saturday evening (12 April).

"The aim is to establish factors such as their proximity to the patient which, coupled with known factors like their age and vulnerability, helps determine whether they are offered a vaccine, or given advice around symptoms to look for and what to do. The UK Health Security Agency has been informed and the patient is now isolating at home and under the care of their GP."

The spokesperson added an assurance for those who were in the A&E on Saturday, saying: "We would reassure patients who visited AandE on Saturday there is no need to contact us – we will contact them if we think there was any possibility of exposure.", reports the Mirror.

Mpox is an infection predominantly found in central and east Africa. The likelihood of contracting it remains low for the majority of people in the UK.

Early symptoms of Mpox include shivering, fatigue, joint pain, body aches, and high fever, followed by a rash that usually appears between one to five days after the initial symptoms.

This news comes just weeks after a fresh case of the latest Mpox strain was identified in England in an individual with no travel history or connections to any other cases, sparking concerns that the virus could be silently spreading across the UK.

The Clade 1b strain of Mpox, known to be more dangerous and transmissible than previous strains, has now been detected in an unnamed individual from the North East. This brings the total number of cases in the UK to 12.

However, unlike all 11 previous cases linked to recent travel from Africa or close contact with someone who had Mpox, the latest patient does not fit into either category.

The development has raised concerns that the new strain may be spreading undetected across the UK, with experts describing the news as "concerning."

Dr Krutika Kuppalli, associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern, expressed her worries to The Telegraph: "The detection of clade 1b mpox in the UK without any known travel history or reported links to prior confirmed cases is concerning because it suggests possible undetected community transmission. This implies the virus might already be circulating locally, beyond the reach of current surveillance efforts."