Warning in Vic for rare monkeypox disease

Victorians are being warned about the rare monkeypox disease as cases are reported in parts of Europe.

The disease, which usually occurs in central and west Africa, causes symptoms including a distinctive bumpy rash, fever, and body aches.

It can be transmitted from person to person through air droplets, close bodily contact or sharing contaminated objects.

There have already been several cases of monkeypox reported in the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal this year, with local transmission occurring in some of those cases.

Victoria’s deputy chief health officer Deborah Friedman said no cases of monkeypox had yet been identified in Australia.

But Associate Professor Friedman said clinicians should consider testing for monkeypox in returned travellers with compatible symptoms.