American man with monkeypox flees Mexican hospital

American man with monkeypox flees Mexican hospital
June 9, 2022, 11:45 am

Monkeypox is caused by monkeypox viruses, a type of Orthopoxvirus. Of the 2-types in humans, the West African type causes a less severe disease than the Central African (Congo Basin) type. It may spread from handling bushmeat, animal bites or scratches, body fluids, contaminated objects, or other close contact with an infected person - Photo: Twitter

Local health authorities in Mexico said on Wednesday (Jun 8) that US citizen with monkeypox escaped from a hospital in a Mexican resort and fled the country.

The state health department said in a statement, yhe 48-year-old man, originally from Texas, fled the hospital in Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific coast last weekend despite having been told by medical staff that he should be tested for monkeypox and kept in isolation.

The agency said, when he arrived at the hospital, the patient had symptoms of "cough, chills, muscle pain and pustule-like lesions on his face, neck and trunk."

The Channel News Asia said that after fleeing the medical facility, the Texan then went to the hotel where he was staying with his partner and caught a flight out of Puerto Vallarta on Jun 4, before authorities were able to locate him.

A file photo from 2001 shows a colored electron-microscopic capture of the monkeypox virus.(Photo: RKI Robert Koch Institute/AFP/File/Andrea MAENNEL, Andrea SCHNARTENDORFF)

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to Mexican authorities on Monday that the patient had returned to the United States where a test confirmed he had monkeypox.

Prior to arriving in Puerto Vallarta on May 27, the individual was in Berlin, Germany, between May 12 and 16, and subsequently in Dallas, Texas.

During his stay in Mexico, he attended parties at the Mantamar Beach Club in the resort town of Jalisco.

Monkeypox declared notifiable disease in Britain

Health officials urged anyone who attended the club between May 27 and Jun 4 to monitor their health.

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that it was aware of more than 1,000 cases of monkeypox in countries where the disease is not endemic.

Source: cna

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