Panama registered the first case of the monkeypox virus in a 30-year-old man, who had contact with visitors from Europe who later informed him that they had contracted the disease.
The case was confirmed last Monday, July 4, by a team of scientists from the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies.
The medical technologist, from Gorgas, Elimelec Valdespino, clarified that the contagion of this virus is not closely related to sexual relations of a man with another man, but with skin-to-skin contact.
“Normally monkeypox presents lesions on the genital parts, it is more related to rubbing or skin-to-skin contact where transmission can occur; it can also occur through drops of saliva, when people present a lesion inside the mouth. recommendations in the face of this continues to be the use of the mask,” he explained.
Among the characteristics of this virus are skin lesions, similar to chickenpox, but somewhat painful.
He added that the symptoms start like a cold: muscle aches, fever, weakness, and after the third or fourth day, the lesions begin to appear.
Valdespino stressed that there is no treatment as such for people who have monkeypox, there is no medicine or antibiotic that can be given, but rather monitoring is provided to see its evolution. At the same time, he indicated that when it is known that the person comes out of this process, between two to four weeks, he is totally free of the virus.
