The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported this Saturday that it was detected the first case of monkey or simian pox in the countryand the patient is currently in critical condition.
The infected is a tourist of Italian nationality who arrived in Cuba on August 15was housed in a rental house and visited several places in western Cuban provinces, according to a official announcement.
The patient presented general symptoms on August 17 and went to the health services the following day due to the persistence of his discomfort.
“During the first medical attention, the symptoms worsened, for which he required urgent transfer for hospitalization and intensive treatment, arriving at the hospital in cardiac arrest, from which he recovered,” explained the MINSAP report.
The information adds that the physical examination identified skin lesions that led to clinical suspicion of the monkeypoxfor which samples were taken and sent to the national reference laboratory of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), in Havana.
The infection by real-time PCR was confirmed in the early hours of this August 20, although the information was not made public until the evening.
The patient is affected with danger to your lifeand possible associated causes that may have conditioned its severity are studied.
The medical personnel who treat him also delve into the epidemiological investigation and carry out focus control actions, as provided in the protocol approved to deal with this disease in the country, the report stated.
Until last July, Italy had registered only 407 cases of monkeypox, with a tendency to stabilize, and the situation is not considered particularly worrying for the country, according to reports from the Italian Ministry of Health.
Since the end of May, Cuban health authorities announced a reinforcement of epidemiological surveillance at all border points in the country following there was an increase in cases of people infected with monkeypox in the world.
days before it was detected the first case in Florida. The state has set off the alarms since July, when infections rose exponentially, with the highest incidence in Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pinellas, and Palm Beach counties
The World Health Organization (WHO) activated the highest level of alert for monkeypox since July, when the disease already reported more than 16,000 cases in 75 countries.
United States not declared monkeypox a public health emergency until August 4. The Department of Health and Human Services issued the statement in order to execute an action plan and access federal funds in order to prevent the spread of the disease, which already has more than 6,600 cases in the country.
We need your help:
Like you, thousands of Cubans they read and support the independent journalism of CiberCuba. Our editorial independence begins with our economic independence: no organization from any country finances CyberCuba. We make our own agenda, publish our opinions and give voice to all Cubans, without external influences.
Our newspaper has been financed until today only through and own funds, but that limits what we can do. This is why we ask for your help. Your financial contribution will allow us to do more investigative journalism actions and increase the number of collaborators who report from the island, while maintaining our editorial independence. Any contribution, big or small, will be very valuable for our future. From only $5 and with just one minute of your time you can collaborate with CiberCuba. Thanks.