SYDNEY, Aug 16 (NNN-AAP) – Health authorities in Australia’s largest state, today, issued a warning over a surge in m-pox cases.
New South Wales (NSW) Health, asked the community to be aware of symptoms of m-pox – formerly known as monkey pox – following an increase in infections.
According to the health body, there have been 93 notifications of m-pox in NSW, since the start of June.
Prior to June, there had been only one confirmed m-pox case in the state of 8.4 million people in 2024. In 2022 and 2023, there were a combined 68 confirmed cases of the potentially deadly disease in NSW.
Jeremy McAnulty, NSW health executive director of health protection, said in a statement that, anyone experiencing symptoms of m-pox – even those who have had a vaccine – should make an appointment with a doctor.
“With the recent increase in cases, NSW Health is asking people who may be at risk of m-pox to stay on the lookout for symptoms,” he said.
“Some people experience mild fever, headache, fatigue, or swollen lymph nodes and mouth ulcers or rectal pain,” McAnulty said. “M-pox can spread to others until the lesions resolve.”
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday declared a global health emergency in response to a severe outbreak of the viral disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
NSW Health said, there have been over 15,000 cases of m-pox reported in central Africa this year – many of which are due to the new clade 1b strain of the virus, that has not been detected in Australia.
The m-pox vaccine is free in NSW for people considered to be at higher risk of contracting the disease.– NNN-AAP