UPDATE — 2ND JUNE 2022: Sydney has recorded its second case of monkeypox after a man travelling from Queensland developed symptoms of the virus.
NSW Health said the man went to the GP and hospital with “symptoms clinically compatible with monkeypox”, per 9News.
“Urgent testing is consistent with monkeypox, the second case in NSW,” it continued.
Apparently the man doesn’t have any high-risk contacts in NSW but he does have some low level contacts. They’ll be asked to monitor for symptoms. Those symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, a rash and a fever.
But known icon Kerry Chant, NSW Chief Health Officer, has said Aussies don’t need to be too worried about the virus. It doesn’t spread easily between people.
“NSW Health is providing further information to clinicians across the state today to assist with the identification and management of potential monkeypox cases,” she said.
“We will continue to work with GPs, hospitals and sexual health services across the state to provide advice on diagnosis and referral.”
Thanks guys!
This is the third case of monkeypox in Australia. But authorities have confirmed the new case isn’t connected to the first Sydney case.
UPDATE — 20TH MAY 2022: A confirmed case of monkeypox has been found in Victoria just hours after a probable case was identified in Sydney.
Per The Sydney Morning Herald a man in his thirties landed in Melbourne from London via Abu Dhabi on May 16. He developed monkeypox symptoms and when his doctor sussed out that he might have chicken pox, the man was put into iso.
He tested positive to monkeypox on Thursday and is currently in hospital in Melb with mild symptoms.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton outlined some of the symptoms in a press conference.
“People usually develop muscle aches and a fever before a rash develops, which can be itchy and painful,” Sutton said.
Sutton also commended the man’s doctor for clocking onto the monkeypox quickly.
“He had an extremely astute GP who has thought of monkeypox and referred him for testing which has led to early diagnosis [and] early isolation,” Sutton said.
Victoria’s Department of Health is currently tracing the man’s close contacts. The contacts’ll be asked to monitor for symptoms and isolate if they develop any, per 7News.
ORIGINAL
A “probable” case of a viral infection known as monkeypox has been found in Sydney which is absolutely something we all simply love to hear.
Per the ABC, a man in his 40s who had recently returned from Europe showed up to his doctors with some mild symptoms in the days after getting home.
He was sent for urgent testing when his GP realised his symptoms were compatible with monkeypox, which determined he was a probable case — and possibly the first known person in Australia with the new virus.
The man is now in isolation at home with someone considered a close contact while NSW Health conducts further testing to confirm whether he has the virus.
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said hospitals, GPs and sexual health clinics across the state have been notified about the sudden international spread of the virus but stressed the illness is “very mild”.
“Cases are occasionally reported in non-endemic countries in returning travellers or their close contacts, or in owners of imported pets,” Dr Chant said.
“People can contract monkeypox through very close contact with people who are infected with the virus.”
Apparently, there have been several cases of suspected and confirmed monkeypox across the US, Canada, Europe and the UK in the last few weeks. This has raised a bit of an alarm in the medical world because the disease is usually only found in the west and central regions of Africa.
But don’t get in too much of a tizz because monkeypox is not spread easily among people. Also, it rarely gets out of those known regions and into other parts of the world, so while it’s out there it’s not very likely you’ll pick it up from going down the shops.
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pains, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion — pretty much everything we’re on the lookout for with COVID and the seasonal flu. Because it’s also in the same family as smallpox, monkeypox can also cause lesions and scabs on the skin of people who contract it.
