Saudi Arabia reports first monkeypox case

Infected person who returned to Riyadh from overseas is in isolation after positive test

A man's hands are covered in a rash caused by the monkeypox virus that swept through the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1996 to 1997. Reuters

An image taken during an outbreak of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1996 and 1997 shows the arms and torso of a patient with skin lesions due to monkeypox. Reuters

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention shows a monkeypox virion, obtained from a sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. AP

Images issued by the UK Health Security Agency show the stages of monkeypox. UK Health Security Agency

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health confirmed a single case of monkeypox in an adult male who had recently travelled to Canada. EPA

Roman Woelfel, head of the Institute of Microbiology of the German Armed Forces in Munich, gets to work after Germany detected its first case of monkeypox. Reuters

The monkeypox virus has been detected for the first time in Saudi Arabia.

The Ministry of Health reported the case on Thursday after tests were carried out on a person who returned to Riyadh from abroad.

People who came into contact with the confirmed case have been informed as a precaution and the infected person is in isolation.

No other person has shown any symptoms of the virus.

The monkeypox outbreak has so far spread to about 50 countries but it is not yet considered a global emergency by the World Health Organisation.

In June, Lebanon recorded its first case of the virus, also in a patient who had recently returned from overseas, while 13 cases have been reported in the UAE.

Symptoms

Symptoms include fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands. The lesions can spread to other parts of the body.

In general, recovery takes about two to four weeks without the need to be admitted to hospital. However, monkeypox can be fatal in up to 6 per cent of cases and is believed to be more severe in children.

Smallpox vaccines are effective against monkeypox and antiviral drugs are also being developed.

Antiviral drugs such as tecovirimat are also proven to be effective against monkeypox and were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2018.

A WHO emergency committee met last month to discuss the outbreak and raised concerns that the virus was now being reported in many countries for the first time.

The virus has circulated in Africa for decades, but few significant outbreaks have been recorded and none in multiple countries simultaneously as is the case now.