Indonesia Registers First Monkeypox Case

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The first case of monkeypox has been registered in Indonesia in the capital city of Jakarta, the health ministry said on Saturday.

"Today, there is one confirmed [monkeypox] patient from Jakarta. He is a 27-year-old man; [we] received a report from PCR testing last night," the spokesperson for the Indonesian ministry of health, Mohammad Syahril, was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.

The patient has recently traveled abroad and experienced mild symptoms of fever, rashes and spleen enlargement, Syahril said. He added that the man's condition is good and he is not severely ill, which is why the Indonesian health authorities made the decision not to treat him in an isolated room but asked the patient to self-isolate at home.

Authorities are determining the people who were in contact with the infected in order to contain the spread of the virus, the spokesperson said, stating that 23 suspected monkeypox cases have been tested and 22 tested negative for the virus through PCR testing.

The monkeypox virus is not easily transmitted and usually spreads through close physical contact, including sexual contact, with an infected individual. The virus can enter the human body through broken skin, the respiratory tract, eyes, nose and mouth, and via bodily fluids. It originates in animals like rodents and primates and occurs in remote parts of Central and West Africa.

According to the WHO, over 35,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported worldwide across over 90 countries and territories, and so far, 12 deaths have been attributed to the disease.