Finland discovers "highly likely" case of monkeypox

[May 25, 2022]  HELSINKI (Reuters) -Finland has identified a "highly likely" first case of monkeypox in the country, the Helsinki hospital district said in a statement on Wednesday.

Global health officials have sounded the alarm over rising cases in Europe and elsewhere of the monkeypox, which is a type of viral infection more common to west and central Africa.[nL2N2XG1LI]

The hospital district on Wednesday found that a man, who had returned from a trip to another European country, had an infection caused by an orthopoxvirus and will by the end of the week know for sure whether it is monkeypox.

An electron microscopic (EM) image shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virus particles as well as crescents and spherical particles of immature virions, obtained from a clinical human skin sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak in this undated image obtained by Reuters on May 18, 2022. Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regnery/CDC/Handout via REUTERS

"The patient that is currently at home has blisters and a high fever but otherwise he is feeling well," the hospital district said.

(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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