First monkeypox death outside Africa recorded in Brazil

First monkeypox death outside Africa recorded in Brazil
July 30, 2022, 9:35 am

Brazil-Sao Paulo/Pixabay

Local authorities in Brazil said on Friday (July 29), that a 41-year-old man has died of monkeypox, making him the first person outside of Africa to have been killed by the disease.

The man, who local media said had serious immune system problems, died in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the southeastern Minas Gerais state, on Thursday (July 28).

The state health ministry said in a statement, he "was receiving hospital treatment for other serious conditions."

Brazil's health ministry has recorded close to 1,000 monkeypox cases, mostly in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states, which are also in the country's southeast.

The first case was detected on June 10 in a man who had traveled to Europe.

Early signs of the disease include a high fever, swollen lymph glands and a chickenpox-like rash.

Test tubes labeled “Monkeypox virus positive” are seen in this illustration taken on May 22, 2022. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization (WHO) last Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency.

According to the WHO, more than 18,000 cases have been detected throughout the world outside of Africa since the beginning of May.

Africa’s alone in monkeypox deaths but has no vaccine doses

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday (July 27) that it has been detected in 78 countries with 70 percent of cases found in Europe and 25 percent in the Americas.

The WHO said that there are multiple modes of transmission for monkeypox, including skin to skin contact, kissing or touching infected materials like bed linen.

Sexual networks within communities of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men have played a role in transmitting the virus in the context of this outbreak.

US records nearly 3,600 cases of monkeypox

The WHO noted that there's a lot of misinformation about monkeypox, much of it fueled by homophobia and racism. We have to challenge this. We must work more closely with the communities affected, it said.

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