The Ministry of Public Health reported this Saturday that the first case of monkeypox in the country has been detected. This is a male patient, of Italian nationality, who arrived in Cuba as a tourist on August 15. During his stay, he stayed in a rented house and visited several places in the western provinces of the country. On August 17, he presented general symptoms and went to the health services on the 18th, due to their persistence. In the
Physical examination revealed skin lesions that led to clinical suspicion of monkeypox. Samples were taken and sent to the national reference laboratory of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, where the infection was confirmed by real-time PCR, at dawn on the 20th.
The patient is in critical condition, with danger to his life. Possible associated causes that may have conditioned its severity are studied. Epidemiological research is also deepened and focus control actions are carried out, as provided in the approved protocol to deal with this disease in the country.
(With information from the Ministry of Public Health)