Health authorities say the first confirmed case of monkeypox in New Zealand is "not unexpected" given the increase in global cases.
An illustration of Monkeypox virus particles. Photo: AFP / Science Photo Library
The infected person, who is in isolation, is in their thirties, lives in Auckland and has recently returned from overseas travel in a country with reported cases of Monkeypox.
The Ministry of Health said there was no evidence of community transmission here, with only a very small number of contacts of the case, who were being advised to watch for symptoms.
Acting Director of Public Health Harriette Carr told Sunday Morning the disease was not highly transmissible because it required physical contact with a lesion to spread.
"It requires very close contact or direct contact with the lesions or contaminated material from that," she said.
"We don't expect that monkeypox would spread as rapidly as we see with Covid."
Arindam Basu, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, School of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury, said it was likely more cases would emerge over the coming weeks.
"Now that a monkeypox case has been confirmed, it is important to be careful about protection measures," he said.
"Monkeypox and Covid-19 are different diseases and spread through somewhat different pathways, but at a personal level, personal hygiene measures and protection with masks are super important for both diseases, especially as Covid-19 cases will continue to rise.
"Being watchful about contacts, keeping a diary, and getting the tests at the first instances of common cold-like symptoms may be helpful".
Infection can be spread through contact with 'pox lesions'
Epidemiologist Professor Kurt Krause said New Zealanders should not be worried about a widespread monkeypox outbreak.
The Professor of biochemistry and infectious diseases at the University of Otago agreed the disease's arrival in New Zealand was not unexpected.
"A lot of the infectious disease physicians [here] have been expecting cases for some time now in New Zealand," he said.
"There's about 20 cases or so in Australia so it was just a matter of time."
Krause said the most severe cases of monkeypox were in Central Africa and it could only be spread after the infected person developed "pox lesions".
The monkeypox disease could have a fatality rate of up to 10 percent, Krause said, but the strain to have reached New Zealand was much milder.
"There are some kinds of monkeypox that cause more severe disease with a fatality rate of - even as high as 10 percent - and then there's other strains that have a fatality rate on the order of sort of 1 percent, well this particular outbreak it's even less; it seems to be much milder outbreak with less number of lesions."
He said initial symptoms included fever, aching muscles and swollen lymph nodes.
"When that resolves, you get an outbreak of these pox lesions which, in some cases can be quite widespread, and then, when you have these pox lesions you could be contagious, so people can pick up monkeypox if they have contact with you if you have those lesions."
Not yet a pandemic
Although the monkeypox disease has now spread to more than 50 countries, it's not classified as a global pandemic.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) will reassess if the virus has a significant-pandemic potential next week.
Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said at present it was just an imported infection.
"The only thing that would be concerning is if we started to see sustained transmission in New Zealand," he said.
"It's possible we'll have people arriving in New Zealand who don't recognise their symptoms and infect people within New Zealand, but it would only be a problem if we didn't quickly recognise those cases."
Baker said monkeypox was not as transmissible as Covid-19.
Public health advice
The ministry said cases of monkeypox outside of endemic countries had primarily been identified among gay and bisexual men and men who have sex with men, and international cases had been clustered around events where this occurred.
As such, the ministry was asking anyone who had been overseas and attended events connected with the spread of monkeypox, to be aware of any symptoms and seek advice from their GP or Healthline free on 0800 611 116, or get in touch with a sexual health clinic.
A monkeypox PCR test is available in New Zealand laboratories and was used to detect the country's first case.
The first symptoms include one or more of the following: headache, acute onset of fever (above 38C), chills, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and body aches, backache and tiredness. The characteristic rash, which typically looks similar to chicken pox, appears after a few days.
The majority of people with monkeypox can be safely managed at home and there have been very few deaths from monkeypox globally.
Some smallpox vaccines can provide protection against the virus.
The Ministry of Health is working with Pharmac to explore options for access to smallpox vaccines that can be used as part of the targeted prevention of spread of monkeypox in certain situations.