The first case of monkeypox was found in Switzerland in a person living in the canton of Bern, but who was exposed to the virus abroad, AFP reported, citing information from the health department of the canton of Bern.
Contact persons have been monitored in order to identify possible transmission chains, according to a press release from local authorities. The infected person is monitored on an outpatient basis and is isolated at home. All contact persons were informed.
This first suspected case of monkeypox became known on Friday. Laboratory tests confirmed the suspicion on Saturday afternoon.
Several Western countries, including France, Germany, Britain, the United States, Spain and Sweden, have identified cases of monkeypox.
Monkeypox or “monkey orthopoxvirus” is a rare disease whose pathogen can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa.
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Its symptoms are similar, but not so severe, those in patients with smallpox: fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain in the first five days. Then there are rashes, lesions, pustules and finally scabs.
There is no cure for monkeypox, which usually resolves on its own and lasts for 14 to 21 days.
Severe cases are more common in children and are related to the degree of exposure to the virus, the patient’s health and the severity of complications.
According to epidemics, the mortality rate can vary considerably, but remains below 10% in all documented cases, mainly in young children.
Human-to-human transmission may be the result of close contact with secretions from an infected airway, skin lesions of an infected person, or objects recently contaminated with body fluids or material from a patient’s lesions.
The most recent cases in Western countries are among homosexual men, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, saying it wanted to shed light on the transmission of the virus, especially among the gay community.
The first case of infection was registered in Israel. The patient is a 30-year-old man who recently returned from Western Europe, according to a spokesman for the Ishilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
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