“To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that you do not have direct skin-to-skin contact with foreigners,” Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a post on Weibo.

Monkeypox is an infectious viral disease that can occur in humans and some other animals. Symptoms include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a rash that forms blisters and then crusts over. The time from exposure to onset of symptoms ranges from 5 to 21 days.

The duration of symptoms is typically 2 to 4 weeks. There may be mild symptoms, but to what extent it may occur without any symptoms is not known. The classic presentation of fever and muscle pains, followed by swollen glands, with lesions all at the same stage, has not been found to be common to all outbreaks. Cases may be severe, especially in children, pregnant women or people with suppressed immune systems.

The ongoing outbreak of monkeypox was confirmed in May, beginning with a cluster of cases found in the United Kingdom. The first confirmed case was confirmed on May 6 in an individual with travel links to Nigeria (where the disease is endemic), but it has been suggested that cases were already spreading in Europe in the previous months.

From 18 May onwards, cases were reported from an increasing number of countries and regions, predominantly in Europe, but also in North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. (ILKHA)