MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil confirms 8th case of monkeypox in man with no travel record

Of the eight confirmed cases in the country so far, four were in São Paulo, two in Rio Grande do Sul, and two in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil's Health Ministry Monday confirmed the 8th case of monkeypox nationwide. The patient is a 25-year-old man from Maricá, in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, who does not have a travel record but has been in contact with foreigners.

The case was confirmed by the Enterovirus Laboratory of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, in Rio, which used the Viral Isolation method to make the diagnosis. The seventh case had been confirmed Friday in Rio de Grande do Sul.

The patient has been reported to be stable and is being monitored by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and by the state and municipal health secretariats. The five people who had contact with the man diagnosed with monkeypox in Rio de Janeiro showed no symptoms until Saturday.

“All containment and control measures were adopted immediately after the communication that it was a suspected case of monkeypox, with the isolation of the patient and tracking of his contacts,” said the Ministry of Health, which notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the case.

Of the eight confirmed cases in the country so far, four were in São Paulo, two in Rio Grande do Sul, and two in Rio de Janeiro. There are still six cases under investigation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had announced it would no longer treat cases differently between countries where the disease is considered endemic, that is, with year-round circulation, and other countries.

Smallpox caused by the hMPXV (Human Monkeypox Virus) virus causes a milder disease than smallpox, which was eradicated in the 1980s. There are two endemic strains of monkeypox currently circulating on the planet. The strain endemic in West Africa, which has a lethality rate of 1% to 3%, is the one that has been responsible for the current outbreak in other countries. The other strain of monkeypox also endemic in some African countries, originating in Congo, is considered more dangerous with a case fatality rate of up to 10%, according to the WHO.

The global agency evaluates the disease as a moderate risk since it is the first time that outbreaks are occurring in countries that are not endemic and are very distant from each other.

On June 23, the WHO is to determine whether the current outbreak represents a “public health emergency of international concern,” wrote Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, on social media. The New Coronavirus pandemic, for example, was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO in January 2020.

Monkeypox is a rare viral disease transmitted by close contact with an infected person with skin lesions. The first symptoms can be fever, headache, muscle and back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills, or tiredness. One to three days after the onset of symptoms, people develop skin lesions, usually on the mouth, feet, chest, face, and or genital regions. For prevention, close contact with the sick person should be avoided until all wounds have healed, as well as with any material that has been used by the infected person.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)