The Israeli Ministry of Health confirmed this Saturday its first case of monkeypox, identified in a man in his 30s who arrived in that country from Western Europe, who was admitted with symptoms of this ailment to the emergency room of a Tel Aviv hospital.
The tests analyzed by the health authorities yielded a positive result, so the man was quarantined.
The patient is in good healthaccording to a statement from the health portfolio echoed by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the German agency DPA.
Israel and Switzerland are currently the last two countries who have joined the group of those affected by this disease, regarding which they have already been reported more than 80 confirmed cases worldwide and 50 to be verified in more than a dozen countries, according to the WHO.
Outbreaks found in at least 12 countries make up an “atypical” circumstance for occurring in “non-endemic” places.
Monkeypox occurs in Central and West Africa, often near tropical forests, and is considered endemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first discovered in humans in 1970.
“The largest and most widespread outbreak in Europe”
“With several confirmed cases in the UK, Spain and Portugal, andThis is the largest and most widespread outbreak of monkeypox ever seen in Europe,” the medical service of the German armed forces said.
According to the BBC correspondent specializing in health issues, James Gallagher, it is an “outbreak of monkeypox unusual and unprecedented that took scientists completely by surprise who specialize in disease.
“It’s always a concern when a virus changes its behavior. Until now, monkeypox was pretty predictable,” he said.
Symptoms and Mortality of Monkeypox
Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills and fatigue. Skin rashes can also appear on the face and other parts of the body, Télam reported.
The mortality rate of monkeypox outbreaks is usually between 1% and 10%, according to the WHO, and most deaths occur in the younger age groups.
not very contagious
Despite the warnings, specialists quoted by the BBC indicated that the general population should not worry regarding the outbreak.
Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at the University of Nottingham, said: “The fact that Only one of the 50 contacts of the initial monkeypox-infected patient has been infected shows how little infectious the virus is.”
Nick Phin, deputy director of the National Infection Service at the English public health office, added: “It is important to emphasize that monkeypox it does not spread easily between people and the risk to the general public is very low.”
