Italy has today detected its first case of monkeypox, a rare disease caused by a smallpox-like virus that has been eradicated from the world since 1980.
The transmission was confirmed by the Instituto Lazzaro Spallanzani, a hospital in Rome, which is the largest reference on infectious diseases in the country.
This is a patient who has just returned from the Canary Islands of Spain and presented to an emergency room in the Italian capital with characteristic symptoms.
“The virus was quickly identified by molecular techniques and genetic sequencing from skin lesion samples,” Spallanzani said.
The patient is hospitalized in isolation and is considered to be in good health. “Epidemiological investigations and contact tracing continue,” the institute added, which has announced two other suspected cases.
Monkeypox virus can be transmitted through contact with saliva droplets, bodily fluids, and skin lesions. Symptoms are similar to smallpox, although milder, with fever, muscle aches, and the appearance of blisters on the skin.
Cases of the disease have already been confirmed in other European countries such as Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The name “monkey pox” derives from the discovery of the virus in monkey colonies in 1958. It is currently believed that rodents are the main reservoir of the pathogen.
The first human case dates back to 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during efforts to eradicate smallpox.
source: Noticias
