A patient infected with monkeypox died in Peru: it is the second fatal case in South America

Peru recorded this Monday the first death of a person infected with monkeypox, at a time when cases of contagion in the country exceeded 300, denounced a health authority. This is the second fatal case in South America.

The patients “came extremely serious at the hospital with monkeypox “and his health” had weakened after he abandoned HIV / AIDS treatment, “Dos de Mayo National Hospital Director Eduardo Farfán said after confirming death. on RPP radio.

“He did not die of monkeypox but of septicemia” caused by a weak immune system, added the director of the hospital, which is located in Lima.

The patient, a 45-year-old man, was hospitalized Wednesday “heavily infected” with monkeypox and “the germs that swarmed on his skin compressed his lungs”.

“The problem is that it was a patient with other morbidities,” which made him more vulnerable and unbalanced, “said Farfán.

The fatal outcome of this monkeypox case was known when infections from this viral disease totaled 305, according to data released on Sunday.

This would be the fifth fatal case involving the virus outside of Africa, after two deaths in Spain, one in Brazil and one in India. However, it was not clearly established whether the cause of the rest of the deaths was smallpox.

Monkeypox is considered a rare viral disease transmitted by close contact with an infected person and skin lesions.

Dos de Mayo National Hospital receives eight to nine cases a day of people with monkeypox and, in general, its treatment is outpatient, according to its director.

With information from AFP

DD