On Friday (27/5) the Argentine Ministry of Health confirmed two cases of monkey pox in the country. The most recent of which is from a resident of Spain who visited the province of Buenos Aires and has nothing to do with the first case that was discovered.
The ministry’s statement stated, “The patient’s general condition is good, and he is isolated and receiving symptomatic treatment. His contacts are closely subject to strict clinical and epidemiological follow-up, and all of them have not shown symptoms so far.”
These are the first two cases of viral disease in Latin America. The second patient, who has ulcers with no other associated symptoms, arrived in Argentina last Wednesday, where he developed his first symptoms the next day.
The result of the PCR amplification reaction of the sample taken from this second case was positive, which confirmed “infection with the pox virus belonging to the Eurasian African group of the genus Orthopox,” the ministry said. The result was consistent with the observation given by negative staining by transmission electron microscopy, in which viral particles of the indicated viral genus were detected.
Spain as the epicenter
Spain has proven to be the epicenter of monkeypox in Europe, with 98 patients confirmed as of Friday, and overtaken by 106 in the UK. Portugal has submitted 74 cases, and there are also records of infection in Germany, France, Italy, the United States, Canada, Australia and others.
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