SAO PAULO, June 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Health officials in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo confirmed the country’s first case of monkeypox on Thursday.
The patient was a 41-year-old man who recently travelled to Spain and Portugal, the city’s health secretariat said in a statement.
He was hospitalised for treatment and was in “good condition”, the health ministry said, adding that his close contacts were under observation.
The official added that another suspicious case was being monitored, involving a 26-year-old woman who was also hospitalised. She had not recently travelled and was feeling well.
The case was previously reported this week by local media, but only confirmed Thursday by authorities.
Monkeypox is a rare disease generally confined to western and central Africa. It is related to but less severe than smallpox, causing a rash that spreads, fever, chills, and aches, among other symptoms.
More than 1,200 monkeypox cases in around 30 countries have been confirmed, most of them in Europe.
Brazil is the third Latin American country to register monkeypox cases after Argentina and Mexico.
So far, the World Health Organization (WHO) says no deaths have been reported in countries where monkeypox is not endemic. — NNN-AGENCIES
