Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton confirmed the country has recorded its first case of the Monkeypox virus.
He told a news conference that the patient is a male who recently travelled from the United Kingdom and had visited a public health facility on Tuesday having arrived on the island some five days earlier.
Tufton told reporters that the unidentified patient has been isolated while having confirmatory tests done and his close contacts quarantined following contact tracing which will continue if necessary.
The Health and Wellness Minister said that the confirmation of the case has triggered Jamaica’s emergency protocols in line with international health regulation guidelines.
Symptoms of monkeypox include skin rash, fever, headache, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion and can last up to two to four weeks.
