The new death from monkeypox in the Latin American giant, of a patient with low immunity and comorbidities, was confirmed this Monday by the Secretary of Health of Rio de Janeiro, the second most populous state in the country and the second in number of cases after São Paulo.
This is a 33-year-old patient who had been admitted since August 19 in an intensive care unit of a hospital in Campos dos Goytacazez, a municipality in the northern region of Rio de Janeiro.
The state of health of the patient, who died on Monday morning, had been considered serious for ten days, when he began to register different complications derived from the infection.
The Ministry of Health added that so far none of the people who were in contact with the patient have symptoms of virus infection.
The new death occurred almost a month after Brazil became the first country to confirm the death of a monkeypox patient in a nation considered non-endemic, that is, outside Central Africa.
The first death was recorded on July 28 at a hospital in Uberlandia, in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais. The victim was a 41-year-old man with comorbidities and low immunity.
Brazil, with 4,499 cases, is the third country with the most monkeypox infections in the world, after the United States and Spain, and ahead of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Peru and Portugal.
The most affected Brazilian state is Sao Paulo, with 2,788 infections, followed by Rio de Janeiro (611), Minas Gerais (253) and Brasilia (168).
On July 23, the WHO declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. This outbreak began in Europe last May and was the first to be seen outside the group of countries in central Africa, where the disease was considered endemic.
The world health body said last Thursday that confirmed cases of the disease rose to 41,664 in 96 countries and 12 deaths had been reported so far.
Among the non-endemic countries with deaths from monkeypox are Spain, also with two victims, Ecuador, Peru and India.
The entrance Brazil records its second death from monkeypox was first published in diary TODAY.
