A woman in St Catherine, Jamaica has tested positive for monkeypox (Mpox).
The Ministry of Health and Welfare made the disclosure in Tuesday’s monkeypox update through March 19.
The latest positive case, the first since January, brings the total number of confirmed cases on the island to 19.
The ministry has classified the latest case as community-acquired.
However, there is currently only one locally active case.
Since the first Mpox case was recorded in Jamaica last July, 17 people have recovered from the virus.
One patient died, but the death has since been classified as accidental.
Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. The Mpox virus is a zoonotic disease and is part of the family of variola viruses that cause smallpox.
Mpox symptoms are similar to those of smallpox, but less severe.
Mpox has been regarded as rarely having fatal consequences.
In November 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) renamed monkeypox to Mpox. This was done because the disease’s original name operates on “racist and stigmatizing language.”
Signs and symptoms associated with the disease include fever, chills, severe headache, extreme fatigue, muscle and back pain, swollen lymph nodes, and a rash that usually appears 1 to 3 days after the onset of fever.