3rd monkeypox case detected in Australian state

Sydney: Health authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have detected the third case of monkeypox in a man who has recently returned from Europe.

The man in his 50s developed mild symptoms several days after arriving in Sydney, and was tested for monkeypox after visiting his doctor with symptoms, reports Xinhua news agency.

It followed the state’s first two cases, a man returning from Europe on May 20, and a man travelling from the state of Queensland.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the three existing cases had not been linked by state contact tracers.

“Monkeypox does not present a transmission risk to the general community, and has until recently not been an infection most clinicians in NSW would have been looking for or concerned about in their patients,” Chant said on Friday.

In the past monkeypox has been endemic in parts of Africa, but since May has been spreading globally, primarily in Europe.