MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay on mpox alert despite no cases reported yet

Montevideo will particularly monitor Uruguay's peacekeeping forces in Congo, where the main outbreak was reported, Rando said

Uruguay's Public Health Ministry is permanently monitoring the possibility of a monkeypox outbreak in the South American country but so far no cases have been detected, Minister Karina Rando explained Thursday during a press conference in Montevideo.

”In our country we have all the alerts turned on..., the Public Health Laboratory has its sentinel centers..., we have not detected any new cases in Uruguay recently, despite the World Health Organization's (WHO) declaration” of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

“Our work is the control of all those people who have been exposed to possible contagion and, of course, the troops who are in Congo will have a very particular medical follow-up and also, if they have any symptoms, the index of suspicion is very high if they come from areas where there are outbreaks,” she added.

Uruguayan troops have been deployed to Congo as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission. It is in that African country that most cases have surged, leading the WHO to this week's declaration after more than 500 deaths have been attributed to monkeypox so far in 13 African countries this year alone given the rapid spread of the new variant of the virus (clade I). Also Thursday, Swedish authorities confirmed the first non-African detection of the malady in a man with a recent travel history.

Swedish Public Health Agency Acting Director Olivia Wigzell said the infected person sought care in the Stockholm area. She also pointed out that such a case did not represent a threat to the general population. “The case is the first caused by clade 1 that has been diagnosed outside the African continent. The affected person was also infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is a large outbreak of mpox clade 1,” Wigzell explained.

So far, two variants of mpox are known, clade 1 and clade 2. Although clade 2 caused a public health emergency in 2022, it was relatively mild. About 300 cases of that strain were identified in Sweden. The Swedish government noted that clade 1 was likely associated with “a greater increase in a more severe course of disease and higher mortality.”

Clade 1 is most often spread through close household contacts, where it often infects children. On the other hand, the milder variant, clade 2, spreads mainly through sexual contact. According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, symptoms usually appear six to 13 days after infection, with fever and headaches, rashes or sores, and muscle aches. For patients at high risk of complications, such as young children, pregnant women, or immunocompromised persons, hospitalization is recommended for a closer follow-up. In severe cases, specific antivirals such as tecovirimat can be used, as indicated by WHO.