The number of Italian monkeypox cases
has risen to four after the South-East Tuscany health authority
said a 32-year-old man who returned to Arezzo on May 15 from a
holiday in the Canary Islands had the disease.
He is being treated at Arezzo's San Donato hospital.
It is the first case in Tuscany.
Three other men are being treated at Italy's premier infectious
disease hospital, the Spallanzani, in Rome.
The first Italian case of monkey smallpox, or monkeypox, also
regarded a man who had recently returned from a stay in the
Canary Islands.
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a
pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for
research, hence the name 'monkeypox.'
The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Since then monkeypox had mainly been reported in humans in other
central and western African countries.
The World Health Organization said it was monitoring the
"quickly evolving situation" after recent reported cases in
Britain, Spain and the United States, as well as Italy.
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pains, swollen lymph
nodes, and a rash that forms blisters and crusts over.
Monkeypox can be contracted from close contact with an infected
person, sexual relations, contaminated objects, handling
bushmeat and an animal bite or scratch.
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