KUWAIT CITY, May 22: The Ministry of Health says no cases of ‘monkeypox’ have been detected in the country and added various sectors of the ministry are closely following the developments of the disease at the world level and taking all necessary precautions to prevent the disease from entering the country, reports Al-Rai daily. This comes after more than 100 cases of monkeypox were detected in Europe “mostly among homosexuals”, according to European officials.

The health sources indicated “the vaccination against smallpox is among the basic vaccinations in the country;” noting that “scientific reports confirm that it is 85 percent effective in preventing monkeypox.” The sources pointed out that the specialists assert that “monkeypox differs from the Corona virus, as its symptoms are very visible, which makes it easier to trace contact with the infected people and easy to isolate those who are infected. The current smallpox vaccine can help protect it if necessary, and therefore no scientists expect the infection to develop into a pandemic like (Covid 19), because the disease does not spread as easily as (SARSCove- 2), and they exclude this possibility completely.” For his part, Dr. Martin Hirsch of Massachusetts General Hospital said, “Covid spreads through the respiratory system and is highly contagious. This does not appear to be the case with monkeypox.”

Monkeypox is a rare disease that mainly appeared in remote areas of central and western Africa near tropical forests that are characterized by rain, but a number of countries in the world announced infections with the disease, as its symptoms are fever, muscle pain, enlarged lymph glands, and rashes on the hands and face. The list of countries that have reported cases of the disease so far includes Canada, the United States of America, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Australia, Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Israel. The World Health Organization had announced, the day before yesterday that it was working closely with a number of European countries that had reported cases of the disease.