Man explains what it's like to have monkeypox

As the monkeypox outbreak UK continues to grow, one man has opened up about what catching the virus was like.

The virus is passed by close contact with an infected person or material that has the virus on it. It can cause unusual skin rashes, swollen lymph nodes and other symptoms.

Speaking to the BBC, Dan Browne spoke about his experience of catching the virus in early June and how his symptoms developed.

Browne explained: “I believe I came into contact with monkeypox just through general touch of someone, a friend of mine.

“A few days down the line, I then started to feel symptoms. I was feeling quite nauseous at times, very tired and the more physical signs started to show.

“But, it started to appear around my genitalia. I had spots, small spots, probably the size of, half the size of my fingernail, rounded. And they were like blister spots.

“They started off really small, and then they had grown like a black inner circle. The skin started to fall off and then that’s when it was very painful.

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“I never thought that it would be something that I would get or be one of the first to have. Later on, with the monkeypox it started appearing all over my body.

“The spots around my genitals to my body were very different. The one on my genitals were a lot larger and had grown over time.

“Whereas the ones on my body had stayed the same size, but didn't have the black inner circle.”

Browne also gave some advice about how people might best protect themselves against catching it.

He continued: “The advice that I can give is just to keep yourself to yourself as much as possible. You don’t have to go around hugging everyone, kissing everyone. You can still have a good time ad enjoy yourselves.

“Cover up as much as you can if possible. Once you get monkeypox, you start actually understanding, and only when you’ve had it, you actually understand the full severity of it.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, there have been more than 1,000 cases of laboratory confirmed monkeypox in the UK.

Professor Kevin Fenton, London’s city's public health director, urged those with symptoms to stay at home, particularly during London Pride events this weekend, and contact NHS 111 or your local sexual health service.

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