The State of Texas on Tuesday reported the first death in the United States of a person diagnosed with monkeypox, a severely immunocompromised patient, according to state Department of Health officials.
The case regarding the role of the disease, also called monkeypox, in the death is still under investigation. Although painful, the disease is rarely fatal.
Scott Pauley, spokesman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in an email that the agency is aware of the reported death of an adult in Harris County, Texas.
“The CDC continues to closely monitor the monkeypox outbreak and we are actively working with Texas officials to investigate this situation,” he said. “Until the investigation is complete, it’s premature to determine a specific cause of death.”
More than 90 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported more than 478,600 cases of viral disease that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global health emergency.
Deaths are rare outside of Africa, where the virus is endemic. Non-endemic countries that reported deaths include Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, India and Spain, with two deaths, according to the Reuters tally.
Cases caused by the form of the virus currently circulating in the United States — Clade IIb — are rarely fatal, but people with weakened immune systems may be more likely to become seriously ill or die, Pauley said.
Anyone can become infected with monkeypox, which is spread through close contact with an infected person. However, nearly all of the more than 18,101 cases of monkeypox in the United States occurred among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, according to the CDC.
source: Noticias
