Lisbon, Portugal- Portugal’s General Directorate for Health has confirmed five cases of monkeypox adding that 15 suspected cases in the area around the capital were also being investigated.
In addition, the General Directorate for Health said the five cases which all are men have skin lesions but are in a stable condition.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), yesterday confirmed a case of monkeypox, making it the first identified in the United States (US) this year.
The DPH said the case of monkeypox was found in an adult man who recently travelled to Canada and has since been hospitalized but in a stable condition at Mass. General Hospital.
“Right now, the Department of Health is working closely to identify contacts that fit that definition and notify them as well as exposed health care workers within the health care system and to identify them and conduct active surveillance for symptoms,” said Dr. Sarimer Sanchez, director of the Infectious Disease Bureau for the Boston Public Health Commission.
Moreso, the DPH said monkeypox can resemble early flu-like symptoms and turn into lesions that spread on the body with most infections lasting between two and four weeks.
“Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that typically begins with flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes and progresses to a rash on the face and body. The virus does not spread easily between people. Transmission can occur through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, items that have been contaminated with fluids, sores or through respiratory droplets following prolonged face-to-face contact,” said the DPH.
Last year, the US identified two cases of monkeypox in Texas and Maryland. Monkeypox was first recorded in the 1970s in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and since then, cases have gradually increased particularly in West Africa.
