For the first time in Germany, a small child is infected with the monkeypox virus. However, the four-year-old girl from Pforzheim has no symptoms. Only a precautionary throat swab brought the infection to light.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) speaks for the first time of a monkeypox infection in a child. According to the RKI situation report, it lives in a household with two infected adults. It is a four-year-old girl from Pforzheim in Baden-Württemberg, according to an RKI database as of Monday. Only last week did the RKI become aware of the first infections among young people aged 15 and 17.
According to the Ministry of Health in Baden-Württemberg, the girl has no symptoms of illness. As a precaution, the child was medically examined after a case became known in the household. A throat swab was then diagnosed with monkeypox. There are no other close contacts outside of the household.
Around two and a half months after the first monkeypox detection in Germany, a total of 2916 cases were reported to the RKI by Monday. In almost all cases it is men. So far, only seven female cases have been transferred to the RKI.
“According to current knowledge, close contact is required for transmission of the pathogen,” it said. The transmissions occurred primarily in the context of sexual activities. “As far as is known, most of those affected do not become seriously ill,” writes the RKI.
