British scientists say it's unclear if monkeypox has peaked

LONDON (AP) — British health officials said they cannot tell if the spread of monkeypox has peaked in the country as they announced another 45 cases Friday, bringing the total in the disease's biggest-ever outbreak beyond Africa to 366 cases.

Britain’s Health Security Agency said 99% of the total cases were in men and that nearly all of the 152 men who provided detailed information identified as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men. About 80% of cases were in London, and the median age of the people infected was 38, the agency said.

“We cannot yet determine if transmission has stopped increasing,” the agency said in a report, citing the reporting delay between when patients experienced symptoms and were confirmed as having monkeypox.

Anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, is susceptible to the monkeypox virus if they come into close physical contact with an infected person or their bedsheets or clothes.

“Findings show that monkeypox is being distributed in geographically diffuse sexual networks,” the British scientists wrote, adding that some of these connections extended beyond the U.K. “Most cases reported having sexual contact with new or casual partners, sometimes in the context of cruising grounds or chemsex,” the experts said, referring to sex combined with drug use.

The experts noted that contact details for sexual partners were often unavailable.

Last month, a leading adviser to the World Health Organization said the outbreak in Europe and beyond was likely spread by sex at two recent raves in Spain and Belgium.

Earlier this week, WHO said more than 1,000 cases of monkeypox had been reported in 29 countries that haven't previously had outbreaks of the smallpox-related disease, including the United States, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Canada....