Two Additional Mpox Patients with 'Community Transmission' Detected...No Overseas Travel History (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Two additional cases of MPOX (formerly known as monkeypox) infected in the community have been confirmed.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on the 12th that the 7th and 8th domestic MPOX confirmed patients were diagnosed on the 10th and 11th, respectively.

The 7th confirmed patient, Mr. A (resident of Seoul), is a Korean national who visited a hospital on the 10th with systemic symptoms including fever and skin lesions. On the same day, a genetic test conducted by the local health center confirmed a positive result. Mr. A is a community-infected case with no history of overseas travel within three weeks prior to symptom onset. The KDCA stated, “An epidemiological investigation of the infection source and contacts is underway.”

The 8th confirmed patient, Mr. B (resident of Seoul), is also a community-infected case. He reported to the health center on the 11th with chills and skin lesions, and tested positive. Currently, all confirmed patients are hospitalized in isolation wards and are in stable condition. The health authorities are conducting a detailed epidemiological investigation into their infection routes.

The first community-infected case was the 6th domestic confirmed patient, Mr. C (resident of Jeonnam), who tested positive on the 7th. According to the KDCA’s initial epidemiological investigation, Mr. C has no history of overseas travel but recently visited Busan and had close contact within three weeks before symptom onset with a person presumed to be the domestic infection source. While investigating the infection source, 36 contacts of Mr. C are being managed according to their exposure risk. Among them, two tested negative, and no suspected symptom reports have been received.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.