Monkeypox is usually a mild virus that causes fever as well as a bumpy rash. It is mostly transmitted to people from animals, humans or materials contaminated with the virus, Dr Shahnoor Azhar informed Sidra Iqbal on her show ‘Aaj Pakistan’.

“Monkeypox starts with fever, then general body aches, a feeling of discomfort or malaise, and muscle aches,” the doctor said.

He also added that people are confusing monkeypox with chickenpox but the main difference between them is that monkeypox causes lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy) while smallpox does not.

A recent surge of monkeypox cases has been reported by 17 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Spain and Canada. More than 250 confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox are reported, WHO said.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a statement stating that no suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported as yet in Pakistan.

Eleven countries have been reporting monkeypox cases since it was first discovered in 1970: Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and South Sudan.

No associated deaths have been reported to date in those countries in the current outbreak.