Israel confirms 1st monkeypox case

JERUSALEM, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Ministry of Health on Saturday confirmed the country's first monkeypox case after the viral disease has recently been detected across North America and Europe.

A man in his 30s returning from western Europe, who visited Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv with suspicious lesions of the virus and identified by the ministry as Israel's first suspected case of monkeypox was proved to have contracted the disease, according to a ministry statement.

A clinical sample was tested at the Israel Institute for Biological Research, where the suspicion of monkeypox was verified, according to the statement.

The man, who was exposed to a monkeypox patient in western Europe, has been hospitalized in quarantine to complete medical examination and supervision.

According to the ministry, the man is in good medical condition. The ministry also called on those who had returned from abroad and developed a fever and a blistering rash to see a doctor.

Recently, cases of monkeypox have been reported in the United States, Canada, Australia and several western European countries.

Monkeypox is common in wild animals like rodents and primates, but humans can also get infected with the virus.

Symptoms include skin rashes, fever, headache, muscle ache, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

The rash eventually forms a scab, which later falls off, indicating that the person is no longer infectious.