MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Patients with monkeypox die in Cuba, Mexico

Mexican authorities would rather wait for the autopsy the say monkeypox was the cause of death of the reported patient

Cuba and Mexico have joined the list of countries such as Brazil, Peru, and Spain, where people with monkeypox have died, it was reported Tuesday. Worldwide, there have been 41,664 cases and 12 deaths.

Read also: First Cuban case of monkeypox almost fatal, still serious

The Italian tourist who had survived a cardiac arrest in Cuba and had been singled out as the first confirmed case of the malady on the island died passed away late Monday, it was reported. “This patient rapidly evolved to seriousness, being in an unstable critical condition since August 18, dying on the afternoon of the 21st,” Cuba's Health Ministry said in a statement.

The post-mortem “showed that the cause of death was sepsis due to bronchopneumonia caused by an unspecified germ and multiple organ damage,” it added. “Through the studies carried out from the beginning to look for possible associated causes that may have conditioned his seriousness, other pathologies of infectious etiology were ruled out.”

The traveler had been staying in a rented house and visited several places in the western provinces of the country, but on Wednesday he felt “general symptoms” of malaise and went to the doctor on Thursday because of their persistence. He was urgently hospitalized with a cardiac arrest from which he recovered.

Cuban authorities also explained that all people in contact with the tourist were so far asymptomatic and under monitoring in isolation, as per “the outbreak control actions foreseen in the protocol approved for the prevention of this disease in the country”.

The Pan American Health Organization confirmed 21,200 cases of monkeypox in the Americas, with more than 80 countries worldwide reporting new cases.

Meanwhile, Mexican authorities are investigating the death of a patient with HIV who died of septic shock and pneumonia after testing positive for monkeypox, but argued it was too soon to claim what exactly the cause of death was in a country where 386 infections have been confirmed in 24 states by Aug. 22 out of 862 suspected cases.

Mexico's Institute for Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference (InDRE) said 97% were male, while 4 of them were under 20 years of age; 90 between 20 and 29; 81 between 40 and 49; 25 between 50 and 59; and four aged 60 years or older.