Suspected monkeypox patients sent to hospital says official

Anybody suspected of being infected with monkeypox will be sent to hospital and isolated, a health ministry spokesman has told PAP.

Last Friday, Poland reported its first case of the virus.

Wojciech Andrusiewicz told PAP on Monday that monkeypox is completely different from Covid-19.

"The transmission of the virus is much lower," he said. "It is much harder to get infected with the virus."

Andrusiewicz also said that until 1980, Poles had received vaccinations against smallpox, which makes them immune to monkeypox as well.

Despite this, the government has passed regulations to safeguard society against the new virus, the spokesman said.

"Every patient who is only suspected of having been infected is sent to hospital and isolated immediately after consultation with a doctor," Andrusiewicz said. "At the same time, swabs are taken and sent to the national hygiene institute."

This relatively rare disease occurs mostly in Central and West African countries and is caused by the monkeypox virus, a member of the same family of viruses as smallpox. However, it is far less severe and infectious than its deadly relative.

Monkeypox symptoms include fever, headache and rash. Cases of the disease have been appearing across Western Europe as well as the United States, Canada and Australia.