Indian authorities announced on Monday the death of a man infected with monkeypox, who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates, in what might be the first fatal case of the disease in Asia.
• Read also: Second death of a patient infected with monkeypox in Spain
• Read also: First two monkeypox deaths outside Africa
The Ministry of Health in the southern Indian state of Kerala said tests on the 22-year-old victim who died on July 30 following being tested positive “show the man had smallpox. monkey”.
This death is the fourth linked to this disease outside of Africa.
On July 24, the WHO triggered the highest level of alert, the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (USPPI) to strengthen the fight once morest monkeypox, also called monkeypox.
The Indian victim died a week following being hospitalized on his return from the United Arab Emirates. It was not yet clear whether the cause of death was monkeypox.
“The young man had no symptoms of monkeypox. He was admitted to hospital with symptoms of encephalitis and fatigue,” Kerala Health Minister Veena George said on Sunday. Indian Express.
Twenty people identified as being at high risk were placed under observation, she said, including relatives, friends and medical personnel, who may have been in contact with the victim.
Spain announced two monkeypox-related deaths last week, the first in Europe, and Brazil one.
However, it is unclear whether monkeypox was the cause of these three deaths. Autopsies are still underway in Spain. In Brazil, the authorities claim that the deceased patient had other serious pathologies.
India has recorded at least four cases of the disease, the first of which was on July 15 in another man who returned to Kerala following a trip to the United Arab Emirates.
Nine deaths in the world
The first analyzes carried out on the man who died on Saturday showed that he was carrying the West African variant of the virus and further tests have yet to be carried out.
According to the Kerala Ministry of Health, the family did not notify doctors until July 30, the day of the death, of the results of the test carried out in Dubai on the 19th. 165 passengers had been on the same flight as him since the Emirates, but none of them had close contact with the patient, the ministry added.
In total, including India’s announcement, nine deaths have been recorded globally since May, with the first five reported in Africa, where the disease is endemic and was first detected in humans. in 1970.
Most of the contamination is concentrated in Europe, where 70% of the 18,000 cases detected since the beginning of May are located and 25% in the Americas, according to the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The WHO Regional Office for Europe also predicts an increase in the number of deaths linked to monkeypox, even if it stresses that severe complications remain rare and very often the disease is cured by itself. even, without requiring treatment.
The aim must be “to quickly interrupt the transmission of the virus in Europe and put a stop to this epidemic,” said Catherine Smallwood, an emergency manager at WHO Europe.
The first symptoms are high fever, swollen lymph nodes and a rash similar to chickenpox.
For now, the WHO stresses that there are not vaccines for everyone and therefore recommends prioritizing those who are most at risk, those who are sick and those who treat or make them. of research.
