Health official: monkeypox virus still not a cause for alarm, no travel restrictions planned

Monkeypox virus, which was seen in Central Africa and has been recently detected in England, US, Portugal, Canada, Italy and Sweden, is still no cause for alarm in Georgia and no travel restrictions are on agenda, head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze said on Wednesday. 

 

The virus has not been found in Georgia so far.

 

Gamkrelidze suggested that the relevant agencies “will anyway strengthen” supervising the diseases in the country which come with rash.

 

Monkeypox virus, which was seen in Central Africa, first appeared in England in Europe earlier this year and has spread in several other European countries.

 

It is a rare viral infection that people usually contract in the tropics of western and central Africa and spread through direct contact with animals such as squirrels.

 

However, it can also be transmitted through very close contact with an infected individual.

 

Monkeypox Virus was first discovered back in 1958.

 

The first human case was confirmed in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the infection has since been reported in a number of Central and West African countries.

 

Only a handful of cases have been reported outside of Africa until now.

 

The virus is usually mild and the majority of patients recover within a few weeks without treatment. Still, the disease can be fatal. However, it can kill about 10 percent of people it infects.