A microscopic image shows monkeypox virus particles
(Picture: VIA REUTERS)A British tourist on the Canary Island of Fuenteventura is being tested for monkeypox.
Health chiefs in the region confirmed the holidaymaker was one of five suspected new cases currently being analysed.
The age of the unnamed man, thought to be the first British tourist in Spain affected since the country announced its first cases last week, has not been revealed.
A spokesman for the Canary Islands’ Health Service confirmed in a short statement: “A suspected case of monkeypox in Fuerteventura corresponds to a British tourist.”
It is not yet known when they will confirm whether he has the disease.
Authorities have not said if he is holidaying alone on the island or is relaxing with relatives who are also being tested.
Spain has so far confirmed around 40 cases of monkeypox and said another 67 people are being tested.
The outbreaks have been traced to a gay sauna in Madrid and a Gran Canaria pride festival attended by 80,000 people from Britain and other European countries.
News of the suspected Fuenteventura case follows warnings by chief medical advisor Dr Susan Hopkins for people to be “alert to the virus” on holiday.
Dr Hopkins, of the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA), said: “The risk to the general population remains extremely low.”
“People need to be alert to it, and we really want clinicians to be alert to it.”
Spain has been one of the worst affected countries so far.
On Monday Britain’s monkeypox outbreak nearly tripled in size as health officials confirmed another 37 patients have caught the tropical virus.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) bosses have now logged 57 cases in little over a fortnight.
Authorities described the outbreak — which has disproportionately struck gay and bisexual men — as “significant and concerning’ but insisted the risk to the UK population remains low.
