Swedish health authorities announced the detection of the first case of monkeypox in the country, after the appearance of people in Europe and North America infected with this disease that is usually endemic in Africa.
“A case of monkeypox has been confirmed in a person in the Stockholm region,” the Swedish Public Health Agency said in a statement.
The infected person “is not seriously ill, but received medical care,” explained the authority, who said he did not know where and how the infection took place.
This disease has as main symptoms fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills and fatigue. Skin rashes can also appear, especially on the face, and spread to other parts of the body.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) plans to publish its first risk assessment report “early next week,” the European Union (EU) agency said.
The agency, which said to “follow the situation closely”, recommends “isolating oneself, testing suspected cases and notifying them quickly”.
Several dozen suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox have been detected since the beginning of May in Europe and North America, raising fears that the disease may begin to spread.
The United Kingdom, which reported its first case on May 6, brought the total number of infected people to nine on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, Spain, Portugal, Canada and the United States reported the presence of confirmed or suspected monkeypox in their territory.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that it wants to clarify the situation since some of the cases in the United Kingdom appear to have been transmitted within the homosexual community.
