Turkey reports its first case of monkeypox

Turkey confirmed its first case of monkeypox infection on Thursday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

"Monkeypox was detected in one of our patients. The patient is 37 years old and has an immune system deficiency. He is in isolation," Koca said on his Twitter account.

Contact follow-up was done with the patient and no other case was found, he added.

The case was detected in Turkey's largest city Istanbul, NTV broadcaster reported.

Monkeypox is a sylvatic zoonosis that may cause infections in humans. The disease was known to be endemic in parts of Africa, but now is spreading in several European and North American countries.

It is caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the orthopoxvirus family, according to the World Health Organization.

The symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches and exhaustion.