The Ministry of Health announced on Friday that a first case of monkeypox was detected in Brazil, in a man in his 40s who had traveled to Europe. In total, nearly 1,000 cases have been confirmed in 29 countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Canada and Germany.
A first case of monkeypox has been detected in Brazil in a 41-year-old man who traveled to Europe, the Ministry of Health announced in a statement on Thursday. The World Health Organization (WHO) has already recorded nearly 1,000 confirmed cases in 29 countries where the disease is not endemic, the most numerous being in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Canada and Germany.
The patient in “good clinical condition”
The first infected person reported in Brazil has “travel history to Portugal and Spain”, stressed the Ministry of Health. The patient is hospitalized in Sao Paulo in “good clinical condition”, while his very recent contacts are under surveillance.
Brazil is the third country in Latin America to report the detection of a case of monkeypox among its nationals, after Argentina and Mexico. According to the WHO, no deaths have been reported in non-endemic countries, unlike the endemics all located in Africa. Early symptoms include high fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a chickenpox-like rash.