MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First case of monkeypox confirmed in Brazil

Anvisa has recommended a return to COVID-19 sanitary precautions

A 41-year-old man from São Paulo who had just returned from Spain has been confirmed Wednesday as Brazil's first case of monkeypox. The patient is now in isolation at the Emilio Ribas Hospital in South America's largest city, which is also monitoring a 26-year-old woman, also in isolation, but with no travel record.

Other suspected cases were under scrutiny in the states of Santa Catarina, Ceará, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, and São Paulo.

The disease is endemic in the West and Central Africa, but the current outbreak is the largest outside that continent. Isolated cases had been reported in other regions, but always linked to people who had traveled to Africa.

Laboratories have so far this year confirmed monkeypox had been detected in 27 countries outside the endemic regions: the United Kingdom (207), Spain (156), Portugal (138), Canada (58), and Germany (57).

“This disease is an unusual and unexpected event in non-endemic areas. It is an agent with a high potential for transmission by droplet contact, mainly through body fluids, and there is a need to ensure assistance - which includes treatment, laboratory capacity, protective equipment, and decontamination,” said Janaína Sallas of the Federal Government's Health Surveillance Secretariat.

São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes said in a statement that the relatives, friends, and neighbors of the woman suspected of having contracted the disease are also being monitored by local health authorities.

Brazil's Health Ministry has set up a situation room to centralize the surveillance of the possible spread of the disease in the country.

Faced with suspicions of monkeypox, Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has recommended resuming prevention measures applied during the coronavirus pandemic and relaxed in recent months after the government repealed the “state of emergency” declared by the COVID-19 crisis.
Among other proposals, Anvisa suggested that the use of face masks and social distancing at airports and on flights be resumed.