Health Ministry confirms Lebanon's first monkeypox case

BEIRUT — The Health Ministry announced Lebanon’s first monkeypox case on Monday, indicating that the case arrived from abroad but without specifying from which country. The ministry added that the infected individual is following a domestic isolation. The ministry is also following up on identifying and communicating with close contacts.

Here’s what we know:

    • In a statement, the Health Ministry stated that the condition of the patient carrying the monkeypox virus “is stable from a medical point of view.”

    • According to the ministry, monkeypox is caused by a virus that is transmitted to humans, either from animal to human — through contact with infected animals (rodents or monkeys) — or from human to human — through direct contact with skin lesions, bodily fluids, sexual relations, or indirectly through contaminated objects, especially bed sheets.

    • The ministry urged the public to take the following preventive measures: “Remain at a safe distance from infected people, not to share their personal items, prevent coming into contact with animals in the countries where the disease is endemic, and avoid eating wild animal meat.” The ministry stated that the countries where the disease is endemic include Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Central African Republic.

    • According to the World Health Organization, “confirmation of one case of monkeypox, in a country, is considered an outbreak.”

    • WHO assesses the risk at the global level as “moderate considering this is the first time that many monkeypox cases and clusters are reported concurrently in many countries in widely disparate WHO geographical areas, balanced against the fact that mortality has remained low in the current outbreak.”

   • WHO also reported a total of 2,103 laboratory confirmed cases and one death from 42 countries between January 1 and June 15 of this year.

   • The Health Ministry in Lebanon invited anyone who requires further information on the disease to contact its hotline 1787.