Belgrade, Dec 27 || A 30-year-old man recently returning from West Africa was confirmed as a new case of mpox in Serbia on Friday. He is also the first confirmed mpox case in the Kosovo region, according to the regional Institute of Public Health.
The institute stated that the patient was hospitalised on December 24, with symptoms including fever, chills, and skin lesions on his face and hands. His condition is stable.
Authorities have traced all close contacts of the patient and issued infection control guidelines to prevent potential transmission, the institute said.
Serbia confirmed its first mpox case in June 2022. The World Health Organization continues to classify the mpox outbreak as a public health emergency, news agency reported.
In August, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said Europe will probably see more imported cases of mpox but the likelihood of sustained transmission in Europe remained very low.
According to the ECDC's latest surveillance and monitoring report released this month, Germany on December 15 reported a cluster of four mpox cases, while Belgium on December 18 reported its first confirmed mpox case due to mpox virus clade Ib in an individual returning from one of the countries affected by the epidemic in Africa.