UAE announces five new cases of monkeypox and two recoveries

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 UAE confirmed five new cases of the monkeypox virus on Tuesday, taking the total number of infections recorded so far to 13.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention said the cases were detected by "early monitoring and investigation" of the disease.

It also announced that two patients who previously had monkeypox diagnosed in the UAE have fully recovered from symptoms of the disease.

Hospitals and medical centres in the Emirates have been advised to be on alert for symptoms, which include sores and lesions on the skin.

Confirmed cases will be treated in complete isolation in hospitals until they recover. Any close contact will quarantine at home for 21 days, with monitoring from UAE officials.

Global cases of the virus have now exceeded 1,000.

"Monkeypox is a contagious viral disease, but the ways it is spread are limited compared to the Covid-19 virus," state news agency Wam has reported officials as saying.

"The most prominent ways of transmission of infection from one person to another are through contact with body fluids and respiratory droplets, contact with skin lesions of an infected person, and contact with contaminated surfaces."

Authorities have advised residents to follow all safety and health prevention measures and take preventive measures when travelling and at gatherings.

This includes maintaining personal hygiene and avoiding physical contact with anyone who has skin rashes.

The UAE's first infection was announced on May 24, in a 29-year-old woman from a West African country.

Global health experts do not believe will spread of monkeypox will be anywhere near the scale of Covid-19.

What are the symptoms and how is it treated?

Most monkeypox patients experience fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious cases 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, but monkeypox can be fatal in up to 6 per cent of cases and is thought to be more severe in children.

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

The World Health Organisation estimates there are thousands of monkeypox infections in about a dozen African countries every year. Most are in Congo, which reports about 6,000 cases annually, and Nigeria, with about 3,000 cases a year.