RJ City Hall confirms 1st case of monkeypox

The City Hall of Rio de Janeiro, through the Municipal Health Department, confirmed, this Wednesday (15), the first case of monkeypox (monkeypox) in the city. The person affected by the disease is a 38-year-old Brazilian, residing in London, England. He arrived in Brazil last Saturday (11) and, the following day, sought medical attention at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Evandro Chagas, of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (INI/Fiocruz).

After being admitted to the health unit, the patient's clinical samples were sent to the Carlos Chagas Filho Biophysics Institute (IBCCF), at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), which is a national reference. The positive result for the disease was released yesterday (14). This is the fifth recorded case of the disease in the country.

According to the medical bulletin released by the secretariat, the patient “he has mild symptoms, is in isolation at home and is being monitored by the Health Surveillance Superintendence (SVS-Rio). All five of its contacts are under investigation for guidance and monitoring.”. Also in a note, the ministry informs that SVS-Rio maintains active surveillance for the timely detection of cases of the disease in Rio. The Superintendence of Surveillance “it is also monitoring the national and international epidemiological scenario keeping health units informed and oriented towards surveillance, alert and response to public health events”, it ends.

More cases in Brazil

Last night, the city of São Paulo also confirmed its third case of monkeypox. The patient is a 31-year-old man who is hospitalized at the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas and is in good health. A resident of São Paulo, the man also has a history of traveling to Europe. According to the São Paulo Health Department, he and his contacts are isolated and being monitored daily.

Last week, two other occurrences of monkeypox were confirmed in the state. Last Thursday (9), the government of São Paulo confirmed the first case in the country: a resident of the capital of São Paulo who is hospitalized at Emílio Ribas, with a good evolution of the clinical picture. The second record was detected in a 29-year-old man, who is isolated at his residence in Vinhedo, in the interior of the state. Both occurrences were considered imported, as the patients had a history of traveling abroad.

On Sunday (12), the Ministry of Health confirmed what became the third case of smallpox in the country. The patient is a 51-year-old man who arrived in the country via Porto Alegre after a trip to Portugal. The case had been under monitoring since May 27, according to the Rio Grande do Sul Health Department (SES).

In a note, the Secretariat also informed that the patient, a resident of Portugal, is in isolation at home, along with his contacts, has a stable clinical condition, without complications and is being monitored by the SES and the Health Secretariat of the capital. In addition to confirmed cases, Brazil is still investigating 10 suspected cases of monkeypox contamination.

In the world

In recent months, several cases of virus infection have been reported in Portugal, Spain, England e United States. Until recently, all cases outside Africa were cases imported from recent travelers to the Democratic Republic of Congo or Nigeria. The records communicated in the month of May, however, are the first autochthonous cases, whose transmission route has not yet been established with certainty.

At the beginning of June, all over the world, more than a thousand cases of monkeypox recorded outside AfricaThe. The latest data released 1.009 infected in 27 countries. This is the biggest outbreak outside the mainland on record. The data are from Global.health Monkeypox, which monitors the figures released by each nation.

Contamination

Monkeypox is a rare viral disease transmitted by close contact with an infected person with skin lesions. Contact can be by hug, kiss, massage ou sexual intercourse. The disease is also transmitted by respiratory secretions and by contact with objects, fabrics (clothes, bedding or towels) and surfaces used by the patient.

According to doctors, the first symptoms are fever, headache, muscle and back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills, or tiredness. One to three days after the onset of symptoms, people develop skin lesions, usually on the mouth, feet, chest, face, and/or genital areas. There is no specific treatment, but the clinical conditions are usually mild, requiring care and observation of the lesions.

To prevent this, it is necessary to avoid any type of contact with the infected person until all the lesions have healed, as well as with any material that has been used by the infected person. It is also important to wash your hands, washing them with soap and water or using alcohol gel.

Vaccine

The vaccine used against traditional or human smallpox, called smallpox, also had some protection against monkeypox. However, according to the Butantan Institute, the immunizing agent stopped being applied a long time ago, as smallpox was eradicated in the early 1980s. people under the age of 40 have never been immunized in Brazil.

According to the Butantan, there is another vaccine produced by the Danish pharmaceutical company northean bavaria which is also effective in fighting monkeypox. It, however, is not produced on a large scale, that is, there is not a sufficient number of doses for distribution on a worldwide scale. To get around the situation, the Federal Government announced that it is negotiating the purchase of doses of the monkeypox vaccine. The information was confirmed by the Secretary of Health Surveillance of the Ministry of Health, Arnaldo Medeiros, during an interview with the newspaper Metrópoles.

At the moment, the Ministry of Health has already met with the manufacturer of immunizations against the monkeypox virus. In addition Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is intermediating the acquisition. If the contract is closed, the expectation is that the first doses arrive in the country in August. “The expectation is that the doses will arrive between the third and fourth quarter of this year, probably from August onwards”, comments the secretary.

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Want to understand more about monkeypox? We prepare a special post about the disease that has been worrying the world.

Sources: Agency Brazil [1] [2], G1 [1] [2], Power 360 [1] [2].