The United Kingdom Health Security Agency has confirmed that a person from England who has recently travelled to Nigeria has been infected with the monkeypox virus.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said Monkeypox is a rare viral infection. It does not spread easily among people and is usually a mild “self-limiting illness”, and many individuals recover within a few weeks. It also added severe illness could occur in some cases.
As per the survey, the first case of Monkeypox in the United Kingdom was confirmed in 2018, and since then, some rare cases have been confirmed by the health authorities in the UK.
The UKSHA stated that it would be reaching the individuals who have close contact with the people to provide information and health advice.
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the same Orthopoxvirus genus, including the smallpox-causing variola virus.
Monkeypox is a zoonosis, a disease transmitted from infected animals to humans.
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research, hence the name ‘monkeypox’, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus.
The infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian pouched rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys.
Monkeypox causes symptoms similar to smallpox, although they are less severe.
Initially, the virus may cause fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion, the UKHSA said.
“It is important to emphasise that monkeypox does not spread easily between people, and the overall risk to the general public is very low,” Dr Colin Brown, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said on Saturday.
