Senegal reports mpox case, patient in isolation

The health ministry says it is the first case it has detected this year

Senegal authorities said they had detected a case of mpox in a foreign man who arrived in the West African country last week.

The health ministry said it was the first case it had detected this year. It was not immediately clear how many cases, if any, had been reported there before January.

"The patient's clinical condition is stable. He is currently in isolation and is receiving care," the ministry said in a statement late on Saturday. It did not give details on what variant of the infection had been found.

No new cases had been detected since then and 25 people were being monitored, a ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.

In Aug 2024, the World Health Organisation declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that had spread to neighbouring countries.