The State and Municipal Health Department of Sao Paulo confirmed this Thursday (9) the first case of monkeypox (Monkeypox) in Brazil.

The case concerns a 41-year-old man, a resident of the city of Sao Paulo, who in the past traveled to Portugal and Spain. He has been hospitalized at the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas in São Paulo since last Monday (6th) and is in good clinical condition. The secretariat says all contacts of this patient are being traced.

The 41-year-old patient lives in Sao Paulo and recently traveled to Spain and Portugal – Photo: Pixabay/ND

The confirmation of this case only happened this afternoon after tests carried out by the Adolfo Lutz Institute.

The Sao Paulo state and municipal health departments are also investigating and monitoring the case of a 26-year-old woman who also lives in the city of Sao Paulo. The patient was admitted to the city’s public hospital and is kept in isolation, her condition is stable. This case became known on June 4.

Last Wednesday (8), the Ministry of Health said it was tracing eight cases of suspected monkeypox in Brazil.

about illness

Monkeypox is a disease caused by a virus and spread through close/intimate contact with an infected person with skin lesions. According to the State Department of Health, this contact can be through hugging, kissing, massage, intercourse, or respiratory secretions. Transmission also occurs through contact with objects, fabrics (clothing, bed linen or towels) and surfaces used by the patient.

There is no specific treatment, but, in general, the clinical picture is mild and requires care and monitoring of lesions. The highest risk of deterioration tends to occur in immunocompromised people, people with HIV/AIDS, leukemia, lymphoma, metastases, transplant recipients, people with autoimmune diseases, pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children under 8 years of age.

“Monkeypox causes a milder illness than smallpox, but some at-risk patients, such as immunocompromised patients and children, can develop it more seriously,” Vivian Botosso, director of the virology laboratory at the Butantan Institute, said in a statement from the institute. Web site.

According to the secretary, the first symptoms associated with the disease are fever, headache, muscle and back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills or fatigue. 1 to 3 days after the onset of these symptoms, people develop skin lesions that may be on the arms, mouth, legs, chest, face, and/or genital area.

The Butantan Institute reported that these skin lesions develop in five stages: macules, papules, vesicles, pustules, and finally crusts, the last stage when the wounds fall off. Transmission of the virus occurs mainly through contact with these foci.

The Secretariat stresses the importance of avoiding close or intimate contact with an ill person until all wounds have healed to prevent illness; avoid contact with any materials used by the patient; and sanitize your hands by washing them frequently with soap and water or alcohol gel.

vaccine

The vaccine used against smallpox (variola) retained some protection against monkeypox (Monkeypox). But according to the Institute of Butantan, this immunizing drug has long been abandoned since smallpox was eradicated in the early 1980s, with the result that people under the age of 40 have never been vaccinated in Brazil.

Butantan reports that there is now a smallpox vaccine, as well as an indication for monkeypox, produced by the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavaria Northean. However, this vaccine is not produced on a large scale, i.e. there are not enough doses for distribution on a global scale.

Spain approves monkeypox vaccine

The Spanish Ministry of Health announced this Thursday (9) that it has given the green light to a monkeypox vaccine to be given to people who have had contact with the infected and are in a “high risk” group.

“Currently, given the limited availability of doses, priority is being given to vaccination” for people exposed to a disease “at a high risk of severity,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Pre-exposure vaccination is not recommended at this time, although it may be recommended later, depending on the evolution of the outbreak and the availability of vaccines,” he added.

The Spanish government announced in May the acquisition of Imvanex vaccines and Tecovirimat antivirals through the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).

There are no specific treatments or vaccines for monkeypox, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), but outbreaks can be controlled with smallpox vaccination.

Spain has confirmed 242 positive cases of monkeypox, an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans from infected animals.

The disease, first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is now considered endemic in a dozen African countries.

Its appearance in non-endemic countries worries experts. However, so far, confirmed cases in non-endemic areas have generally been benign and no deaths have been reported.

* According to Agência Brasil and AFP.