African virus hits two foreigners

– Two people in Britain have been diagnosed with a rare viral monkeypox infection in separate cases thought to be linked to travel to West Africa.

Public Health England said the second case, in a person who had recently travelled to Nigeria, was being treated at an expert respiratory infectious disease centre in Liverpool.

The first case, also in someone who had been in Nigeria, was diagnosed last week in Cornwall.

Monkeypox is a rare viral infection that does not spread easily from person to person. The virus is similar to human smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980. – Reuters

London