Ebrahim Qaderi, an official with the Iranian Health Ministry, said on Friday that samples have been taken from five of the suspects, out of whom three tested negative.
“Given the fact that we’ve had no reports of the disease inside the country, we have started screening for possible patients from border areas,” he added.
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus, part of the same family as smallpox, although typically less severe.
The disease was used to be endemic to Central Africa but a recent outbreak across the US, Europe, Australia and the Middle East has surprised health experts, prompting fears of a wider outbreak.
The disease is mild and usually non-fatal. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday reported that the monkeypox outbreak, while “not normal,” is still “containable.”
According to WHO, the virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials
