Scotland has 13 confirmed cases of monkeypox, public health officials say.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) confirmed on Tuesday that the cases had been identified in laboratories.
It is understood the majority of cases are among adults known to be gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) and report recent European travel within 21 days of experiencing symptoms.
PHS said it has not identified a common link among the cases but investigations are continuing.
Individuals are receiving care and contact tracing is continuing.
It comes after world health experts warned that we should prepare for deaths in Europe from monkeypox as the numbers infected rose to more than 1,500 - 470 of them in the UK.
Dr Catherine Smallwood, Monkeypox Incident Manager the World Health Organization (corr) in Europe warned: “Thankfully in the European Region we have had no deaths registered in the current outbreak but we should be prepared for those to happen.
"We do know that monkeypox can be a severe disease and we have some patients who have been hospitalised and it can lead to some severe outcomes in several population groups.”
She said those most at risk were young children, pregnant women and individuals who are immuno-suppressed.
Smallwood added: “As the virus continues to spread and affect different population groups we will likely see some severe cases.”
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