In Brandenburg there is the second confirmed monkeypox case. The virus was detected in a 35-year-old man from the Teltow-Fläming district, and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) confirmed the suspicion on Saturday, the Brandenburg Ministry of Health announced in Potsdam in the evening.

The infected person is in isolation. On May 28, the suspicion of monkeypox in a 40-year-old from Potsdam was confirmed. This was the first confirmed case in the country.

Compared to smallpox, which has been eradicated since 1980, monkeypox is considered a less serious disease. According to the RKI, the pathogen is usually transmitted from person to person through close physical contact. Symptoms usually go away on their own within a few weeks, but can lead to medical complications and, in very rare cases, death in some people.

People who may have had contact with infected people are advised to pay close attention to symptoms and to reduce contacts as a precaution.

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Since the beginning of May, the virus has been spreading from person to person in Europe for the first time without an epidemiological connection to West or Central Africa.

The first symptoms are fever, headache, muscle and back pain and swollen lymph nodes. Extensive skin rash is possible. (dpa)