The Ministry of Health has enhanced surveillance after no cases of monkeypox have been recorded.
Speaking in Kisii, Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache stated that Kenya and the East African region have put in place robust and appropriate response mechanisms.
“Neither Kenya nor our sister countries in the region have registered any case. Even then, we have done all that is required already to stem possible spread in the country,” said Mochache.
In Europe, the Americas and Australia, more than 100 instances of the virus, which causes a rash and a fever, have been verified.
Although the number is projected to continue to climb, experts say the overall risk to the general public is quite low.
The virus is especially frequent in Central and West Africa’s rural areas.
Outside of Africa, the virus has now been found in 16 nations.
Monkeypox is an uncommon disease caused by a monkeypox virus infection and is a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the Poxviridae family.
More than 80 cases have been confirmed in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and Israel.
The virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding. The incubation period of monkeypox is usually from 6 to 13 days but can range from 5 to 21 days.
Its symptoms in people are similar to, but less severe than, smallpox symptoms. Fever, headache, muscle aches and tiredness are among symptoms of monkeypox.
The fundamental distinction between smallpox and monkeypox symptoms is that monkeypox causes lymph node swelling (lymphadenopathy) but smallpox does not.
