The Ministry of Health confirmed this Friday a second case of monkeypox in the country, which like the previous one was detected in a person who allegedly contracted the disease in Spain.
This second case was imported by a person who resides in Spain and was visiting the province of Buenos Aires and who has no connection with the first, while the Ministry of Health assured Télam that “there are no other suspected cases under study ” .
“The general condition of the patient is good, he is isolated and receiving symptomatic treatment. His close contacts are under strict clinical and epidemiological monitoring, all of them being asymptomatic to date,” detailed the Ministry of Health.
It only presents “ulcerative lesions” without other associated symptoms. She arrived in the country on May 25 and had her first symptoms this Thursday, the health portfolio reported.
“The result of the PCR amplification reaction of the sample taken from the second high-probability case is positive, which confirms infection with poxviruses belonging to the Eurasian-African group of the Orthopox genus,” the Ministry said.
He also indicated that this result “is consistent with the observation made by negative staining by transmission electron microscopy, where viral particles of said viral genus were detected.”
Last Sunday, the health authorities confirmed the first suspected case of monkeypox in a person who had been in Spain between April 28 and May 16 and who, after presenting the first symptoms, was immediately isolated for treatment.
This morning, the Ministry confirmed that the “result of the PCR amplification reaction of the (first) case is positive” and said that “in turn, the sequencing showed a high percentage of homology with sequences from the West African clade.”
In biology, a clade is a group of living things made up of species that share a specific genetic trait that they inherited from some common ancestor, from which they evolved.
“The patient is in good condition, undergoing symptomatic treatment and his close contacts are under clinical and epidemiological control without presenting symptoms to date,” the Ministry added.
In this way, Argentina confirmed two cases of monkeypox, adding to the 379 that are registered worldwide according to data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), while another 76 are awaiting confirmation.
about the disease
Monkeypox is an orthopoxvirus that causes a disease with symptoms similar to those of smallpox but less severe, and is an endemic disease in several African regions that every year registers cases outside that continent but always with an epidemiological link related to Africa countries.
The main symptoms of this disease are fever, a characteristic extensive rash, and usually swollen lymph nodes. It is spread by very close contact between infected people or with the ulcers it causes on the skin.
Cases in other countries
Out of the 11 African countries where the disease is endemic, three countries currently account for the majority of confirmed cases: the United Kingdom (101), the first country where unusual cases were detected in early May, Spain (104) and Portugal (58). ).
Meanwhile, in Canada it registers 26 confirmed cases and 34 suspects; United States (9), Australia (2), Israel (1) and United Arab Emirates (1).
On Monday, in its first risk assessment, the ECDC (European Center for Disease Prevention and Control) considered that the probability of contagion in the general population was “very weak” but that it was “high” in people with several partners. sexual.
The same day, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed an “atypical” situation but considered it possible to stop the transmission of the disease between humans.
He also issued a statement in which he described as “unacceptable and “inadmissible” the stigmatization of people for a disease, regarding “messages that stigmatize certain groups” in the face of the outbreak of the so-called monkeypox.
(Telam)