Germany detects first case of monkeypox, military medical service says

Germany has detected its first case of monkeypox, the German armed forces' medical service said on Friday, but the health ministry does not assume a high number of undetected cases beyond the one announced.

"The Institute for Microbiology of the German Armed Forces in Munich has now also detected the monkeypox virus beyond doubt for the first time in Germany on 19 May 2022 in a patient with characteristic skin lesions," the service said in a statement.

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said that based on the information available, he assumed the virus was not so easily transmitted and that an outbreak could be contained if health authorities acted quickly.

"We will now analyse the virus more closely and examine whether it involves a more contagious variant," he added.

Lauterbach said the ministry assumes that the infected person had the West African variant of the virus, which is assumed to be less difficult than the Congo variant.

"We are well prepared, we will now provide detailed information about the contacts of the infected person," he added.