Australia has reported its first monkeypox case from someone who recently travelled from the UK.
A second case of the virus has been confirmed in a man in New South Wales who also recently travelled back to the country from Europe.
Both men, in their 30s and 40s, are presenting mild symptoms so but ones which are clinically compatible with monkeypox, health officials said.
The man in his 30s arrived in Melbourne on Monday, Victoria state's health department said, while the second case was identified in Sydney in a man in his 40s.
Dr Kerry Chant, New South Wales' state chief health officer, said a preliminary test in the Sydney man was positive and subsequent testing confirmed the case.
She said: "Just to reassure the community, it is not the same spread mechanism as Covid or flu, where it is more fleeting."
The Victoria health department said on Friday: “Testing has confirmed that he has the virus and he remains in isolation at the Alfred with mild symptoms."
Monkeypox usually arises mainly in central and western Africa, often close to tropical rainforests, and is considered endemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo where it was first discovered in the 1970s.
However, in recent weeks, it has been identified in several non-endemic countries in recent weeks, including Britain, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Canada and the United States.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and chills.
The UKHSA says: “A rash can develop, often beginning on the face, then spreading to other parts of the body, including the genitals.
"The rash changes and goes through different stages, and can look like chickenpox or syphilis, before finally forming a scab, which later falls off.”
Monkeypox is spread through prolonged face-to-face contact with those who are infected with the virus, often through large respiratory droplets.
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison said state health authorities were closely monitoring the situation, but he believes it to be "far less contagious" than Covid and "things of that nature."
He continued: “We should be taking this seriously [but] at the same time I would say that no one should be alarmed at this point. We’ve got the best health authorities in the world.”
The state’s chief health officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said fatality rates are between 1 and 5 per cent.
Canada also reported its first two confirmed cases of monkeypox on Thursday night, with 17 further cases under investigation in Montreal.
The Sydney man and a household contact are both isolating at home.
