Indonesia has recorded the first case of monkeypox in a 27-year-old man who was returning from abroad, the health ministry announced on Saturday.
Indonesian Health Ministry spokesman Mohammad Syahril said the patient had "
high awareness and knowledge of the disease
".
“
So when he had the symptoms, he immediately checked (with) the doctor.
The result (came back) positive within a day
,” Mohammad Syahril told reporters, adding that the patient was now placed in solitary confinement in the capital Jakarta.
The WHO triggered the highest level of alert, the Public Health Emergency of International Concern, on July 24 to strengthen the fight against the disease.
The first symptoms of monkeypox are high fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a chickenpox-like rash.
The patient arrived in Indonesia on August 8 and presented with fever and rash a week later.
The ministry spokesperson refused to reveal the patient's country of origin.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore has confirmed more than a dozen cases and the Philippines and Thailand have also reported first cases.
WHO this week called on people infected with monkeypox to avoid exposing animals to the virus, after a first reported case of human-to-dog transmission.
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A first case of monkeypox transmission from humans to dogs was reported last week in the medical journal The Lancet - two infected men who transmitted the virus to their greyhound in Paris.
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