A “first case of monkeypox” has been detected in Egypt, in a 42-year-old man placed “in solitary confinement in a hospital”, authorities announced on Wednesday. The man “has a residence permit from a European country that he visits regularly,” the health ministry of the Arab world’s most populous country said.
At the end of August, the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed to have identified 35 cases of monkeypox in seven countries in the Middle East and the Maghreb.
The WHO has raised its highest level of alert
Since May, monkeypox infections have been on the rise outside West and Central Africa, where it was already endemic. So much so that the WHO triggered its highest alert level at the end of July in an attempt to control the disease.
Monkeypox can be contracted through close physical contact with an infected person, animal, or material.
It usually goes away on its own after two to four weeks. The first symptoms are fever, headache, muscle and back pain for five days. Rashes then appear on the face, palms, and soles of the feet, followed by painful lesions, pimples, and finally scabs.
Source: BFM TV
