The Health Ministry announced Tuesday that a third Israeli has been diagnosed with monkeypox.
The patient is a 34-year-old man who arrived at Icholov Medical Center with symptoms suspected to be from monkeypox after returning from a trip abroad.
He was confirmed to have monkeypox after an examination by the Biological Institute.
Monkeypox is a viral disease that usually manifests itself in fever, blistering rash and swollen lymph nodes.
The Health Ministry monitors information around the world and is in contact with the health authorities of many countries. The ministry calls on those who have developed a fever and a blistering rash and have returned from abroad or have been in close contact with a person who is suspected of having monkeypox to contact their personal physician.
According to the latest update from the World Health Organization, 780 cases have been identified so far in 27 countries.
The statement said that the majority of cases are in men who had engaged in homosexual intercourse.
Throughout the past month, health officials have stressed that the disease can be transmitted by close contact, such as skin-to-skin contact, with an infected person.
Source: Arutz Sheva
- The first case of monkeypox was confirmed in Israel on May 20, and a second case on May 28.
On Sunday, the World Health Organization said more than two dozen countries that haven’t previously identified monkeypox cases reported 780 confirmed infections, a more than 200% jump in cases since late May.
No monkeypox deaths outside of Africa have yet been identified.
WHO estimated that the risk posed by monkeypox to global health was “moderate,” saying this was the first time that so many cases and clusters were reported across the world.
Until last month, the disease had not been known to cause large epidemics beyond central and west Africa, where it has mostly affected people in rural areas who come into close contact with infected wild animals.
On Monday, British health officials revealed that there are more than 300 monkeypox cases in the UK. To date, the UK has the biggest identified outbreak of the disease beyond Africa, with the vast majority of infections in gay and bisexual men.
Both of Israel’s first two confirmed monkeypox cases were also in men in their 30s who had recently returned from abroad.
There have so far been no reported cases of community spread of the disease within Israel.
Israeli health officials have played down the risk of the virus. The Health Ministry’s head of public health services, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, urged calm in a briefing last month and said the recent outbreak of the virus was not a major risk to public health.
Monkeypox usually clears up after two to four weeks, according to the WHO. A case of the virus was diagnosed in Israel in 2018, and no known community infections resulted from it.
Source: Amy Spiro – TOI