KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 – A patient has been diagnosed with monkeypox in south west of England.
The patient is believed to have contracted the rare viral infection when visiting Nigeria, according to Public Health England (PHE), as quoted by the BBC.
The patient has now been transferred to a specialist infectious disease centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London.
“We are following up with those who have had close contact with the patient to offer advice and to monitor them as necessary,” said Dr Meera Chand, consultant microbiologist at PHE.
Officials have also been implementing “rapid infection control procedures” and contacting passengers who travelled in close proximity to the patient on the same flight to the UK.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in remote parts of central and west Africa, near tropical rainforests.
“Although monkeypox is much milder than smallpox, it can be fatal,” said WHO.
“The monkeypox virus is mostly transmitted to people from various wild animals such as rodents and primates, but has limited secondary spread through human-to-human transmission.”
The first reported case of monkeypox in the UK was reported in September last year.
