Monkey pox: First death in Peru

An HIV-positive patient who had stopped his anti-HIV treatment and contracted monkey pox died yesterday Monday in Peru, where more than 300 cases of the disease have been recorded, a health official announced.

The man, aged 45, "arrived at the hospital in a very serious condition with monkey pox. His health was weakened after he had stopped his anti-HIV treatment,” Dos de Mayo hospital director Eduardo Farfan told a local radio station.

"He didn't die of monkeypox, but of septicemia" due to his weakened immune system, the director of the Lima hospital said. "The problem was that he was a patient with comorbidities," which made him more vulnerable, and he was in "destabilized" health, according to Mr. Farfan.

When the patient was admitted to the hospital with "extensive infection" from the virus, "the germs that had invaded his skin were pressing on his lungs," the hospital director explained.

Spain last week announced two deaths linked to monkeypox, the first in Europe. Brazil and India have each announced one.

However, it has not been established that monkeypox was the cause of these deaths. Autopsies are still ongoing in Spain. In Brazil, authorities say the patient who succumbed also suffered from other serious chronic conditions.

The World Health Organization on July 24 declared a public health emergency of global scale, its highest level of alert, to step up the effort to deal with monkeypox.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ-AFP