Argentina announces first monkeypox death

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina recorded its first death from monkeypox when an adult male with underlying pathologies died in a hospital here, the Health Ministry announced Monday.

In a bulletin, the ministry said that the 44-year-old man “had been in intensive care on a ventilator since Oct 9”, adding that he presented HIV/ AIDS risk factors, Xinhua reported.

As of Nov 22, the South American country had accumulated 895 monkeypox cases, a weekly increase of 3.46 per cent, according to official data.

Over 66.4 per cent of confirmed cases were registered in the city of Buenos Aires, which along with the provinces of Buenos Aires and Cordoba, accounted for 94.9 per cent of national infections, the bulletin reported.

Meanwhile, infections have been recorded in 15 of the 24 provinces in the country since the first case was detected on May 27, while the average age of reported cases was 35 years old, with a range from 10 to 78 years old.

The Argentine Health Ministry set up a working team for surveillance and specific recommendations for health teams and the population after the first cases of the disease in nonendemic countries were reported.