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ARGENTINA | 29-11-2022 10:30

Argentina records first mpox death

Argentina has registered its first death from mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox, after a patient died in a hospital in the capital.

Argentina has registered its first death from mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox, after a patient suffering from the virus died in a hospital in the capital, the National Health Ministry confirmed Tuesday.

The fatality was a 44-year-old man from Buenos Aires Province who was diagnosed with untreated HIV-AIDS and suffered septic shock, which caused his death, the National Health Ministry said Monday. 

The patient had been hospitalised since mid-September in intensive care with respiratory assistance and his death was registered on November 22, the report added. He was also diagnosed with a host of other infections including herpes and pneumonia while receiving treatment.

Argentina has reported 895 confirmed cases of mpox, overwhelmingly concentrated in Buenos Aires City and the provinces of Buenos Aires and Córdoba, the Health Ministry said.

Over the last four weeks, the average number of confirmed cases per seven days has been 49. More than 66 percent of those were recorded in the capital and around 98 percent of infections have been recorded in males.

The median age of patients with the virus in Argentina 35 years, with the lowest aged 10 and the eldest aged 78. Sixty-four percent of those who have been infected had a history of recent travel prior to the onset of symptoms.

The virus known as mpox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. It is endemic in 11 countries in West and Central Africa. 

It was previously known as monkeypox, but was renamed mpox by the World Health Organization due to “racist and stigmatising language.”

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The rare disease spreads by a bite or direct contact with an infected animal's blood, meat or bodily fluids, and initial symptoms include a high fever before quickly developing into a rash. 

People infected with it also get a chickenpox-like rash on their hands and face. 

No treatment exists but the symptoms usually clear up after two to four weeks, and it is not usually fatal. 

 

– TIMES/NA/AFPa

Argentina has registered its first death from mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox, when a patient died in a hospital in the capital Buenos Aires, the health ministry said.

The fatality was a 44-year-old man from Buenos Aires Province who was diagnosed with untreated HIV-AIDS and suffered septic shock, which caused his death, the National Health Ministry said Monday. 

The patient had been hospitalised since mid-September in intensive care with respiratory assistance and his death was registered on November 22, the report added. He was also diagnosed with a host of other infections including herpes and pneumonia while receiving treatment.

Argentina has reported 895 confirmed cases of mpox, overwhelmingly concentrated in Buenos Aires City and the provinces of Buenos Aires and Córdoba, the Health Ministry said.

Over the last four weeks, the average number of confirmed cases per seven days has been 49. More than 66 percent of those were recorded in the capital and around 98 percent of infections have been recorded in males.

The median age of patients with the virus in Argentina 35 years, with the lowest aged 10 and the eldest aged 78. Sixty-four percent of those who have been infected had a history of recent travel prior to the onset of symptoms.

The virus known as mpox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. It is endemic in 11 countries in West and Central Africa. 

It was previously known as monkeypox, but was renamed mpox by the World Health Organization due to “racist and stigmatising language.”

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The rare disease spreads by a bite or direct contact with an infected animal's blood, meat or bodily fluids, and initial symptoms include a high fever before quickly developing into a rash. 

People infected with it also get a chickenpox-like rash on their hands and face. 

No treatment exists but the symptoms usually clear up after two to four weeks, and it is not usually fatal. 

 

– TIMES/NA/AFP

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