About a week ago, the RKI reported the infection of a child with monkeypox. Now, however, it is known that it is not ill after all. The responsible health department is taking the case back, they say. Several possibilities are given as the reason for the error.
The four-year-old girl from Pforzheim, who according to the authorities had tested positive for monkeypox last week, has not been infected with the virus according to further tests. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Health in Stuttgart announced that the child did not have monkeypox. "The responsible local health department informed us today that it will now withdraw the case," said a spokesman for the ministry.
The reason for this is that the positive finding was not confirmed by a further diagnostic clarification for monkeypox in the laboratory of the state health department. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced the case last week. According to the RKI situation report, the girl lives in a household with two infected adults.
As the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Health announced, on August 5th, as a precaution, a throat swab from the child who showed no symptoms was examined with a PCR test for the genetic material of the monkeypox virus. The result was initially positive.
Because the girl did not show any signs of illness, both the original sample and two other throat swabs from the child were also examined by the state health department using specific monkeypox PCR. "A monkeypox infection of the child could be ruled out," the ministry said.
Incorrect results could be caused, among other things, by contamination during the test procedure or sampling, the statement said. It is therefore important, as was the case in this case, to follow up on further investigations if the constellations are unclear.
Monkeypox is considered a less serious disease compared to smallpox, which has been eradicated since 1980. According to the RKI, the incubation period is 5 to 21 days. Symptoms, which include fever and a rash, usually go away within a few weeks, but can lead to medical complications and, in very rare cases, death in some people.
