A man who had been working in the Nigerian state of Delta before travelling to the UK in early May has been diagnosed with monkeypox, as has a fellow quarantined family member – this takes to five the number of cases imported since 2018. The index patient developed a facial rash two days after arrival and sought medical advice later in the month. Contact tracing has been carried out and those exposed will be monitored for 21 days, however the risk to the public is low. The WHO advises that the disease resulting from infection with the West African clade of monkeypox virus ‘sometimes leads to severe illness in some individuals’ but ‘is usually self-limiting’. According to the NCDC, there have been 446 suspected monkeypox cases from 30 states in Nigeria between Sept 2017 and May 2021, 32 were recorded this year. Read more
Advice for travellers
Closely related to the smallpox virus, monkeypox is mainly found in Central and Western Africa. Rodents are the suspected reservoir, with monkeys and humans as secondary or ‘spill-over’ hosts. People can be infected by eating undercooked ‘bushmeat’ or handling infected animals, making infection a low risk for travellers. Read more on monkeypox.
Before you travel, call Travelvax Australia’s telephone advisory service on 1300 360 164 (toll-free from landlines) for country-specific advice and information. You can also make an appointment at your nearest Travelvax clinic to obtain vaccinations, medication to prevent or treat illness, and accessories for your journey.