Japan confirmed its first case of monkeypox on Monday with a man in his 30s in Tokyo testing positive, Kyodo news agency quoted the Tokyo metropolitan government.
The patient travelled to a European country from late June to mid-July where he had close contact with a person infected with monkeypox, it said.
The man, who is currently hospitalised, started to feel unwell on July 15, the Tokyo government said. His symptoms include a fever, a headache and a rash, it added.
Earlier in the day, government officials held a meeting to discuss measures needed to respond to a possible outbreak of monkeypox in the country after the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday declared the outbreak of the infectious disease a global health emergency.
Infections have been reported since May outside Central and West Africa, where the disease is endemic.
Symptoms of the disease, spread through close physical contact, include fever, extensive rashes, skin lesions and swollen lymph nodes following an incubation period of five to 21 days. – Bernama