Kimberley Mannion
SPAIN’S Costa del Sol has confirmed its first suspected case of monkeypox infection.
The infected individual, a foreign national, is currently at home in isolation while awaiting the confirmation of test results.
The patient went to the emergency department of the Costa del Sol hospital in Marbella on Thursday before being ordered into home isolation.
His testing samples were then sent to Madrid for processing.
He had reportedly been travelling around several countries before arriving in Spain, though had not been in any country with a high presence of the disease.
Scientists believe the disease is likely transmitted through sexual activity, specifically between two men, though this has not been the case in the Marbella instance.
Symptoms of the uncommon disease, which causes a rare rash of lesions on the skin, include fever, muscle aches and exhaustion.
Currently, Spain has confirmed seven cases of the infection, all of which in Madrid, while a further 29 people are awaiting test results.
The Ministry of Health in the Junta of Andalucia confirmed the suspected infection on Friday 20 May.
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