OREANDA-NEWS The first case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Turkey, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Twitter.

"Monkeypox was found in one of our patients. A 37-year-old patient has a deficiency of the immune system. He is isolated. A dynamic observation was carried out, no other cases were detected", he wrote, emphasizing that the disease is transmitted through close physical contact, and not by airborne droplets.

Koca did not specify in which Turkish city the case was detected.

Monkeypox began to spread outside of Africa in May of this year. The United Kingdom was the first to report cases. The virus was found in a Nigerian plane passenger. Later, other states also reported cases of infection, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, the United States, Georgia, South Korea and others.

So far, no people with monkeypox infection have been registered in Russia. Rospotrebnadzor considers the probability of importing monkeypox to the country to be low.

WHO has determined that this outbreak of monkeypox is not a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). According to the organization, since the beginning of the year, 3 413 cases of infection have been registered in 50 countries.