Frankfurt/Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) – After the first confirmed monkeypox case in Hesse, the Frankfurt health department determined possible contact persons of the person concerned and transmission routes. Where the man could have been infected is still unclear, said the head of the health department, Peter Tinnemann, on Wednesday. The patient is therefore a 39-year-old Frankfurter. He stated that he had neither traveled nor attended any major events.
The Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital in Frankfurt had previously confirmed the suspicion of a monkeypox infection. Hesse’s Health Minister Kai Klose (Greens) emphasized again on Wednesday that the general risk of infection with this disease is “rather than low”. This is not nearly as contagious as the corona virus.
According to the head of the health department, the patient is in isolation at home. Tinnemann assumed that there would be more cases of monkeypox. But he currently sees no dangers for the general population, “that this will spread widely and draw further large circles in Frankfurt or in Germany,” he said.
The first proven case in Germany was reported from Bavaria last week. The man concerned is said to have been in Frankfurt temporarily beforehand.
Monkeypox is a rare viral disease that can be transmitted to humans from animals, most likely rodents. Transmission from person to person is rare, but possible, especially in very close contact. The incubation period for monkeypox is between seven and 21 days. The first symptoms of the disease are fever, headache, muscle and back pain and swollen lymph nodes. A widespread skin rash may occur.