The total number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in Brazil this Wednesday reached five (15), less than a week after the first positive diagnosis.
The two most recent reports came today, one in São Paulo and the other in Rio de Janeiro.
In Sao Paulo, the The first case is a 41yearold man who recently returned from a trip to Portugal and Spain, two countries where the disease has broken out.
A 26yearold resident of Vinhedo, inland São Paulo, who it was the second case in the state, on June 11th. The patient remains isolated at home.
O Rio Grande do Sul also reported that a 51yearold man who was recently in Portugal tested positive for the disease.
In the Rio de Janeiro, a 38yearold Brazilian citizen living in London, arrived in the capital on June 11 with symptoms of monkeypox and sought medical help from INI/Fiocruz (National Institute of Infectious Diseases Evandro Chagas) the following day. The positive result was announced today.
The third infected person in São Paulo is a 31yearold man who lives in the capital and who also recently traveled to Europe. Like the first patient, he is being treated in isolation at the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas.
According to the health authorities, everyone is doing well. The isolation time is about three weeks or after any scabs on the skin have fallen off.
The fact that the five cases are related to travel abroad suggests that there is still no community transmission of monkeypox in the country (the virus was introduced).
In any case, the state Department of Health reported that it is monitoring all people who have been in close contact with patients who have the disease.
Monkeypox is progressing at an “unusual and worrying” pace, according to the report WHO (World Health Organization)which has already scheduled an expert meeting for next week to decide whether to treat the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.
Realtime monitoring, conducted by the Global.health initiative by researchers from universities such as Harvard and Oxford, shows that there are already nearly 1,800 positive cases of the disease in nearly 40 countries.
England, Spain and Portugal account for more than half of the infections, but numbers are also rising in countries like Germany, the Netherlands and Canada.
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