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Kristina M Angelo, Brett W Petersen, Davidson H Hamer, Eli Schwartz, Gary Brunette, Monkeypox transmission among international travellers—serious monkey business?, Journal of Travel Medicine, Volume 26, Issue 5, 2019, taz002, https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taz002
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Outbreaks of emerging zoonotic infectious diseases, such as Ebola virus, highly pathogenic avian influenza (H7N9) and Middle East respiratory syndrome, have occurred in recent years, causing infections of these relatively rare diseases among international travellers. An additional emerging zoonosis is monkeypox,1 which was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1970 but since 2010 has expanded to cause outbreaks among humans in seven additional African countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Sudan.1,2 Starting in September 2017, a large, ongoing human monkeypox outbreak in Nigeria has caused 269 suspect and 115 confirmed cases from 25 states and 1 territory, including large cities.2
In September and October 2018, three international travellers (two from the UK and one from Israel) became infected with monkeypox after exposure in Nigeria.2,3 Additionally, one healthcare worker who did not travel but had documented contact with one of the ill international travellers in the UK was infected.4