Health officials say a rare case of monkeypox has been confirmed in the UK.
Viral infection usually causes mild illness and most people recover within a few weeks and is similar to human smallpox.
Initial symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, and exhaustion.
However, severe illness can occur in some individuals.
Patient found to have monkeypox recently traveled to the UK from Nigeriawhere they are believed to have been infected.
The person is being cared for in the infectious disease specialist unit of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation in London.
According to the NHS, monkeypox is mainly spread by wild animals in areas of west or central Africa and the risk in the UK is very low.
The infection can be spread by close contact with an infected person, but the risk of transmission to the general population is very low.
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Dr Colin Brown, director of clinical and emerging infections at UK Health Security, said: “UKHSA and NHS have well established and robust infection control protocols in place. to deal with imported infectious disease cases and these procedures will be strictly followed.”
According to Public Health England, monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when an outbreak of a chickenpox-like disease occurred in monkeys kept for research.
The first human case was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
On 3 December 2019, one patient was diagnosed with monkeypox in the UK and two other cases in travelers were diagnosed in Israel in 2018 and Singapore in 2019.
