The disease is usually mild, but it can also cause severe symptoms: more and more countries are reporting cases of monkeypox. Now another western country is affected.
According to a report, a first case of monkeypox has been detected in Belgium. The infected person reported to the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, reported the public broadcaster VRT, citing researcher Isabel Brosius.
The infected person was not very ill, it said. The person’s contacts would be identified. Apparently, the monkeypox pathogen has been spreading unnoticed in several western countries for a long time, and on Thursday numerous evidences from Europe and North America were already known, including Great Britain, Spain, Portugal and Sweden. No case was initially recorded for Germany. However, in the course of the increased attention, further evidence can be expected, probably also in other regions of the world.
Monkeypox is a disease caused by a virus. The pathogen was first detected in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958 – hence the name monkeypox. According to the British authority UKHSA, the circulating variant of the monkeypox virus usually causes only mild symptoms, but can also have severe courses.
