A middle-aged man was diagnosed with monkeypox on Tuesday. This is the fourth infection to be diagnosed in Iceland and the country’s Chief Epidemiologist says that the case is most likely a domestic infection, which is a cause for concern. RÚV originally reported on this.
„These are similar symptoms as in the other three, which are mainly skin symptoms. People are not particularly sick,“ says Þórólfur Guðnason, Chief Epidemiologist, in an interview with RÚV.
The infected individual is currently in isolation in his home.
Guðnason says the infection is being traced, but that it likely is a domestic infection. According to him, there is reason to worry if such infections become more common.
More than 3,000 people have been diagnosed with monkeypox in Europe, and the number of infections on the continent has been increasing.
At the same time as monkeypox seems to be spreading domestically, there has been an increase in Covid infections recently. On Monday, 420 individuals were diagnosed with the disease. Recently, there have been reports of a new variety that is said to be more harmful than prior ones. However, Guðnason says that it is still too early to be particularly concerned about that, as the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) has not published anything on it. He says there often is some concern about new varieties, but that it is necessary to wait and see what the disease looks like. Experiments are carried out in laboratories and after that we can start to understand the behavior of the new varieties.
„So, I think it’s too early to make some sort of a bad prediction, we will just have to see,“ says Guðnason.
This article was originally published in Icelandic.