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Infant in Luxembourg infected with monkeypox, says health ministry

DPA WORLD
Published August 18,2022
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An infant in Luxembourg has been infected with monkeypox, according to the country's health ministry.

The child is "in a stable and not worrying condition," the ministry said on Wednesday evening.

The patient was being isolated. The day-care centre that the child attended will remain open as no other child is currently showing symptoms, the statement added.

People with whom the child was in contact have been informed. The child's age and gender were not specified.

According to figures from August 10, 41 men in Luxembourg had been infected with the monkeypox virus by then. The average age was 39 years.

In Germany, where more than 3,200 cases have been registered so far, no such infection has been detected in a child.

Symptoms of monkeypox are similar to but less severe than those of smallpox, another pox virus. Smallpox has been eradicated since 1980.

According to Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control, the incubation period is 5 to 21 days. Symptoms, which include fever and a rash, usually go away on their own within a few weeks, but can lead to medical complications in some people.