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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Antony Thrower & Gerard Couzens

Monkeypox fears hit Canary Islands as Brit tourist tested for virus on Fuerteventura

A British tourist visiting Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands is feared to have monkeypox.

Health chiefs in the holiday isle are currently looking into five suspected cases of the virus.

If confirmed, the Brit would be the first affected in Spain since the nation confirmed its first cases last week.

A spokesman for the Canary Islands’ Health Service said in a short statement: “A suspected case of monkeypox in Fuerteventura corresponds to a British tourist.”

It is unknown if is alone on the island or in a party also being tested.

Spain has so far confirmed around 40 cases of monkeypox and said another 67 people are being tested.

The British tourist is on the holiday island of Fuenteventura (Getty Images)

Europe is in a heightened state of alert for the rare condition which causes symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and chills.

Last week Spain reported a number of infections, mainly in the Madrid region where the regional government closed a sauna linked to the majority of infections.

A Gran Canaria pride festival attended by 80,000 people from Britain and other European countries is also being probed.

Spanish authorities are testing the Brit for monkeypox (REUTERS)

Health chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero added at the time: “The Public Health Department will carry out an even more detailed analysis... to control contagion, cut the chains of transmission and try to mitigate the transmission of this virus as much as possible.”

Most of the cases currently under investigation in Europe have so far been mild with most of those infected expected to recover within a few weeks without treatment.

Skin tissue harvested from a monkey positive with the virus shows the infection (Gado via Getty Images)

Yesterday it was confirmed the number of monkeypox cases in the UK has risen to 57, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

On Friday, there were 20 cases in England and that figure was expected to climb, with a further 36 now confirmed.

Scotland also recorded its first case, taking the total to 57.

Dr Nick Phin, the medical and public health science director at Public Health Scotland, said the infected individual is "being managed and treated in line with nationally agreed protocols and guidance".

German scientists continue studies into the virus (REUTERS)

Monkeypox is rarely passed between people but can be via close person-to-person contact or contact with items used by a person who has the virus, such as clothes, bedding or utensils.

A large proportion of cases identified in men who have sex with other men communities.

It is not normally a sexually transmitted infection, but it can be passed on by direct contact during sex.

Scabs like this are a symptom of monkeypox (Getty Images)

Over the weekend an expert warned the monkeypox outbreak, which has been found across Europe and north America, has reached epidemic proportions, an expert has warned.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is holding daily meetings to keep up to date with the latest on the new health threat.

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