By Zuko Komisa
The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised people with monkeypox to refrain from infecting other animals.
This follows the discovery of the first incidence of human-to-dog transmission.
The medical journal The Lancet published a study on the first instance of monkeypox being transmitted from a dog to a human last week.
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The case involved two men and an Italian greyhound who shared an apartment in Paris.
Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for monkeypox, told reporters that they believe this is the first time such an incident has occurred.
“This is the first case reported of human-to-animal transmission… and we believe it is the first instance of a canine being infected,”
“As soon as the virus moves into a different setting in a different population, there is obviously a possibility that it will develop differently and mutate differently,” said Lewis.
According to the WHO, more than 35,000 cases have been confirmed globally in 92 countries since the beginning of the year, and 12 people have died as a result.
The disease was first discovered in humans in 1970, with the spread since then mainly limited to certain West and Central African countries.
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