Serological tests carried out on an English tourist in Greece, the first suspected case of monkeypox (monkey pox) in the country, did not detect the disease but chickenpox, assured the public health body on Sunday.
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The English tourist, suspected of having monkeypox, and his travel partner were transferred to hospital on Saturday and placed in solitary confinement.
"The monkey virus was not detected after serological examinations on the man hospitalized at Attikon Hospital, but chickenpox was detected following two successive examinations
," the public health body announced in a press release.
"There are similar symptoms and appearances of similar skin lesions"
between the two diseases, he said.
Several Western countries including France, Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Spain and Sweden have identified cases.
Monkeypox or "simian orthopoxvirus" is a rare disease whose pathogen can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa.
Its symptoms resemble, in less serious, those which one observed in the past at the subjects reached of pox: fever, headaches, muscular pains, dorsal, during the first five days.
Then appear rashes, lesions, pustules and finally scabs.
There is no treatment for this disease which generally heals spontaneously and whose symptoms last 14 to 21 days.