In a communique, the health authority notified the investigation of possible patients with the sending of samples to a reference laboratory in France and contact tracing.

The ministry stated that monkeypox is a zoonotic disease: transmissible between animals and humans, with rashes on hands and face. It has symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, but it is clinically less severe.

The health officials insisted that the incubation period ranges from five to 21 days and called on those contagions to comply with a period of isolation at home if symptoms are mild or go to the hospital in case of infection.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a rise to more than 1,600 cases with the disease in 29 countries outside Africa, in which it has never before been stationary.

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