On May 9, the Ministry of Health in Singapore confirmed that a Nigerian who had arrived in the city on April 28 had the rare disease, monkeypox. The monkeypox virus is similar to human smallpox and belongs to the virus family Poxviridae. The WHO notes that prior smallpox vaccination is highly effective in preventing monkeypox. Monkeypox occurs sporadically in Central and West Africa; cases have been reported from 10 African countries. Since the majority of monkeypox virus transmissions to humans are from animals, the WHO advocates “restricting or banning the movement” of small mammals and monkeys from countries where the virus is prevalent to limit the spread of the virus.

Source: The Hindu June 03, 2019 18:45 UTC