MONTEGO BAY, St James — Health officials in this parish are breathing a sigh of relief after a suspected case of monkeypox turned out to be negative.

“Since week we had a suspected case but the result from testing was that the person was negative for monkeypox. We do not have any case of monkeypox in this parish, happily,” medical officer of health for St James Dr Francine Phillips-Kelly told Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation.

There is one confirmed case on monkeypox in Jamaica so far, a patient who has been admitted to the May Pen Hospital in Clarendon. He travelled to Jamaica from the UK.

“We continue to be vigilant with our surveillance of our ports because we still anticipate that, for the most part, individuals who might be diagnosed will be travelling from territories that do have cases,” Dr Phillips-Kelly told the meeting.

Monkeypox is a viral disease that can be transmitted from person to person, with symptoms including fever, intense headache, swelling of the lymph nodes, back pain, muscle ache, lack of energy, and/or rash. Symptoms tend to last between two to four weeks.

In addition to the absence of monkeypox in the parish, the health official also provided good news about COVID-19, saying there has been a decrease in the number of positive cases. Meanwhile, the health department remains vigilant as it keeps an eye out for other infectious diseases, such as malaria.

“It is a condition we do not have in country; however we still have travellers from countries where malaria is endemic. We have had suspicious cases of malaria in the last month; however, the tests have come back negative for any of the malaria parasites,” assured Dr Phillips-Kelly.