What you need to know about the virus that causes monkeypox.
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Monkeypox has spread to Western Australia, with a person infected with the disease roaming around Perth for four days.
The infected individual was not diagnosed in Australia, with doctors only realising the person had the tropical virus once they landed in the UK three days later.
None of the person'sfive close contacts has contracted monkeypox, health authorities have confirmed.
So far monkeypox has only been found in NSW and Victoria, with five cases in the former and three in the latter.
It comes as the World Health Organisation warned of the virus posing a "real risk" and called for an emergency summit.
Jelena Maticevic, acting director of the Communicable Disease Control Directorate, said: "Monkeypox does not spread easily among people. It is spread through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus.
"The infection usually causes a mild illness and most people recover within a few weeks.
"The initial symptoms of the illness include fever, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and joint aches and fatigue. A rash then develops which often starts as flat red lesions, which become filled with fluid, and eventually scab over and fall off during a two- to three-week period.
"People with monkeypox should isolate and avoid contact with other people while they are infectious.
"We are asking clinicians to continue to be vigilant and watch for signs of the virus."
This 1997 image provided by CDC, shows the right arm and torso of a patient whose skin displayed a number of lesions due to what had been an active case of monkeypox. Photo / File
The WHO has declared an emergency meeting as the global monkeypox outbreak poses a "real risk".
Europe remains the epicentre of the global monkeypox outbreak, with more than 1500 cases reported in the region.
The UN health body is holding an emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.
"Europe remains the epicentre of this escalating outbreak with 25 countries reporting more than 1500 cases, or 85 per cent of the global total," Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, told a press conference this week.
WHO's European region comprises 53 countries, including several in Central Asia. "The magnitude of this outbreak poses a real risk. The longer the virus circulates, the more it will extend its reach, and the stronger the disease's foothold will get in non-endemic countries," Kluge said.
Until the past few months, monkeypox had generally been confined to Western and Central Africa.
Kluge said that the majority of cases reported in Europe "have been among men who have sex with men", but also warned against stigmatisation.
He stressed "that the monkeypox virus is not in itself attached to any specific group".
The regional director also warned that the risk was increasing as summer had arrived with "tourism, various Pride events, music festivals and other mass gatherings planned across the region".
"These events are powerful opportunities to engage with young, sexually active and highly mobile people," Kluge said, but stressed that "monkeypox is not a reason to cancel events, but an opportunity to leverage them to drive our engagement".
Speaking next to Kluge, Steve Taylor, director of European Pride Organisers Association, said that some 750 Pride events were planned across the European region and welcomed the WHO's recommendation not to cancel these events.
"Sadly, but entirely predictably, some of those who oppose Pride and who oppose equality and human rights have already been attempting to use monkeypox as a justification for calls for Pride to be banned," Taylor told reporters.
The EU said it had purchased almost 110,000 vaccine doses to help tackle the outbreak, though the WHO does not recommend mass vaccination against monkeypox.
Monkeypox symptoms include fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a chickenpox-like rash on the hands and face.
No treatment exists, but the symptoms usually clear up after two to four weeks. The disease is considered endemic in 11 African nations, where the death rate is between 3 and 6 per cent.
