An HIV-positive patient who abandoned HIV treatment and became infected with monkeypox died on Monday in Peru, where more than 300 cases have been reported, a health official said.
The 45-year-old man “came to the hospital very seriously ill with monkeypox. His health had deteriorated after abandoning his HIV treatment,” the director of the Dos de Mayo National Hospital, Eduardo Farfán, told local radio.
“He did not die of monkeypox but of sepsis” caused by a weakened immune system, added the director of the hospital located in Lima. “The problem is that he was a patient with other morbidities”, which made him more vulnerable “and he decompensated”, said Eduardo Farfán.
Highest level of alert triggered by the WHO
Entered on Wednesday “highly infected” by the virus, “the germs that invaded his skin compressed his lungs,” explained the hospital director.
Spain has announced two deaths related to monkeypox, the first in Europe. One was reported in Brazil and another in India.
However, it is unclear whether monkeypox was the cause of these four deaths. Autopsies are still ongoing in Spain. In Brazil, the authorities assure that the patient who died had other serious pathologies.
On July 24, the WHO issued the highest level of alert, the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (USPPI), to strengthen the fight against monkeypox, also called monkeypox.
Source: BFM TV
