BUENOS AIRES, May 29 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Argentine health authorities confirmed the first two cases of monkeypox in the country. Both men had been in Spain recently but are not connected.
One of the patients, who had been reported as a suspected infection last Sunday, “is in good condition, undergoing symptomatic treatment,” according to a Health Ministry statement. He has been isolated since he showed up at a Buenos Aires clinic for treatment.
“His close contacts are under clinical and epidemiological control without presenting symptoms to date,” the document went on. The patient had been in Spain between April 28 and May 16.
The Health Ministry confirmed that “the result of the PCR amplification reaction” of the case “is positive” and stated that “the genomic sequencing under the Sanger method” showed “a very high percentage of homology with Monkeypox sequences of the West African clade.”
Regarding the second confirmed case, the authorities explained it was a Spanish resident visiting the province of Buenos Aires and who “has no link with the first case.” The traveler arrived in Argentina last Wednesday, May 25, and started showing symptoms the following day.
“The Ministry of Health of the Nation informs that the result of the PCR amplification reaction of the sample taken from the second high probability case is positive, which confirms infection with poxviruses belonging to the African Eurasian group of the genus orthopox,” according to the communiqué.
The patient has ulcerative lesions with no other associated symptoms. He “is in good general condition, isolated, and receiving symptomatic treatment,” it was reported.
“His close contacts are under strict clinical and epidemiological follow-up, and all are asymptomatic to date,” the statement went on.
Outside the 11 African countries where the disease is endemic, countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Canada, and the United States, among others, have confirmed cases of the disease. — NNN-MERCOPRESS
