The RIVM (National Insititute for Public Health and the Environment) has identified six confirmed cases of the monkeypox virus in the Netherlands.
A number of the infected people attended the Darklands festival in Belgium, says the NOS.
Good to know: The ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) stresses that monkeypox does not spread easily between people. Transmission occurs through very close human-to-human contact. So we’re very unlikely to see monkeypox spread as fast as the coronavirus!
How does monkeypox spread?
It is likely that monkeypox was transmitted through sexual contact.
However, monkeypox is not a sexually transmittable disease. The virus spreads most commonly through skin-to-skin contact.
What are the symptoms of monkeypox?
The first symptoms of monkeypox are tiredness, muscle aches and, sometimes, fever. What follows are blisters and skin rashes. When the scabs fall off the blisters, they are infectious.
A disease contraction from monkey pox can last between two to four weeks. Most importantly, the majority of cases in Europe are mild.
Monkeypox in the Netherlands
Since Saturday, suspected and confirmed cases of monkeypox must report to the Dutch governemnt, says the NOS.
Dutch Minister of Health Ernst Kuipers stresses that there are no collective disease prevention measures to be expected. The Dutch government asks individuals infected with monkeypox to go into isolation.
The government also offers a vaccine to people in the Netherlands who have been in close contact with an infected individual.
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Feature Image: CDC/Brian W.J. Mahy, BSc, MA, PhD, ScD, DSc
