The first two deaths from monkeypox outside the African continent were reported this Friday, July 29. The first of them was in Brazil, while the second in Spain, according to international agencies.
The Spanish case was confirmed by the Ministry of Health of that country and at the same time it is the first known death in Europe. The cause was encephalitis associated with the infection, according to the Health Department of the Valencian Community, where the death occurred.
In its last report, the public body had confirmed 4,298 cases in the country. Of the 3,750 patients affected, 120 were hospitalized, which represents 3.2% of the total.
Meanwhile, the first death in Brazil was a 41-year-old man, who lived in the rural area of Uberlandia, state of Minas Gerais, and was admitted to the therapy room of a Belo Horizonte hospital with a diagnosis of lymphatic cancer. "The cause of death was septic shock aggravated by Monkeypox ," spokespersons for the health portfolio informed the Télam agency through the statement.
Brazil, in turn, registered the first three diagnoses in children, in children between 4 and 6 years old who were infected as adults. All of them are under medical follow-up and health surveillance in their homes, with symptoms of dilated lymph nodes, fever and marks on the skin.
As of Thursday, Brazil had confirmed 1,066 cases of monkeypox, 75.6% more than last week. The largest number of diagnoses is in the state of San Pablo, which has 823 infected (77% of the total). They are followed by Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.
On July 24, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, decided to declare smallpox in the world as “a public health emergency of international concern.” The announcement came after the meeting of the organization’s experts in which they failed to "reach a consensus."
