A uncommon case of monkeypox has been recognized in a affected person in England, the UK Well being Safety Company stated in a press release Saturday.
Monkeypox is a uncommon viral an infection which doesn't unfold simply between individuals, the company stated, qualifying the general threat to most people as "very low."
"The an infection will be unfold when somebody is in shut contact with an contaminated individual; nonetheless, there's a very low threat of transmission to the overall inhabitants," the assertion learn.
The affected person is believed to have contracted the an infection in Nigeria, the UKHSA stated, earlier than just lately touring to the UK. She or he is receiving therapy in London on the knowledgeable infectious illness and isolation unit on the Man's and St Thomas' NHS Basis Belief.
Per the UKHSA, preliminary signs embody fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.
The UKHSA stated it could contact individuals "who may need been in shut contact with the person to offer info and well being recommendation," as a precautionary measure.
Monkeypox is a relative of smallpox, which was eradicated in 1979, however is much less transmissible and fewer lethal. Based on the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, "The primary distinction between signs of smallpox and monkeypox is that monkeypox causes lymph nodes to swell whereas smallpox doesn't."
Rodents, together with animals stored as pets, and monkeys can carry monkeypox and transmit it to individuals. The CDC investigated one case in a traveler to Dallas final yr.
Forty-seven individuals within the US have been contaminated with the virus in 2003 in an outbreak traced to a cargo of small mammals from Ghana offered as pets. There was a smaller outbreak in Britain in 2018.