Monkeypox was first diagnosed in a child in Argentina

Diagnosed for the first time monkey pox in a niño on the Argentina. He is 10 years old and lives in the city of Buenos Aires, according to the epidemiological bulletin of the Ministry of Health of the Nation. Since last May, when the first case of the infection caused by the virus Monkey pox in the country are most of those affected adultswith a average age of 35 years.

The virus was first described in humans in Africa in 1970. In 2017, there was a resurgence of the infection in Nigeria, with more than 200 cases of monkeypox. The virus would have spread and this year caused a global outbreak, a situation that led to the World Health Organization declare it as public health emergency of international concern on July 23 last. This is an infection that can cause a rash that appears with pimples or blisters.

Worldwide, 76,111 cases of monkeypox have already been reported in 109 countries this year. In 102 of those countries, there has never been an outbreak of the virus before. Monkey pox. But since August, daily business has slowed, especially in regions like Europe. “The number of reported cases all over the world has fallen for eight consecutive weeksbut, as in the case of COVID-19, risks and uncertainties remain, and in some countries transmission continues to increase,” said the WHO director. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus In the past week.

In Argentina, between May and August, smallpox cases increased slowly. From the second half of August they grew “gradually”. In the first week of October, a lower number of cases were registered than in the previous week. But in the second week of October, 85 confirmed cases were reported and another 20 were under study at the close of the last epidemiological bulletin.

It was the week with the most confirmed cases since the beginning of the outbreak in the country. “In relative terms the average week-on-week increase recorded for the past four weeks was 14%”confirmed the epidemiology experts of the Health Portfolio to refer to the evolution of the outbreak between the second half of September and the first half of October.

Total, 627 human cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Argentina. Until now, the youngest patient registered was a teenager from 18 years. Now there was the matter of the son of 10 years. As symptoms, the boy had a fever of more than 38° and a rash on his arms. “As an epidemiological background, it is a immediate contact of a confirmed case, and the area of ​​contamination would be the inner family”, the experts explained. Namely, the child was a close contact of a family member who also had the infection. At the moment “developing favorably.”

After the detection of the case in childhood in the country, Dr. Thomas Ordunaformer president of the Latin American Society of Travel Medicine and adviser to the Ministry of Health of the Nation, told Infobae: “For now, monkeys still affect men who have sex with other men more both in Argentina and in the rest of the world. But there are specific cases of patients who are women and children. I don’t think there will be an increase in cases in women and children in the country. This increase did not occur in other regions of the world.”

consulted by Infobae the doctor Viviana Leirohead of the Dermatology Service of the Hospital Muniz of the city of Buenos Aires and member of the Argentine Society of Dermatology, said: “It is necessary for the population today to take into account the recommendations to prevent monkeypox. If any adult has symptoms, they should see a doctor and avoid skin contact with other people. If a child has symptoms, they must be accompanied to the consultation and must wear a mask. In both cases it is important that the 21 days isolation until the scabs produced by the skin lesions fall off. This prevents the affected person from transmitting the virus Monkey pox to its environment and contribute to the control of the outbreak”.

Researchers from the UK and Sweden recently published a study on the impact of the smallpox outbreak on children in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. As of September 6, 2022, there were reports 59 children’s cases in the countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area, 5 cases among children aged 0-17 in Canada, a single case in the United Kingdom, and 31 childhood cases in the United States. In Spain, 3 of the 4 cases in children under 4 years old contracted the infection at home, while adolescents aged 13 to 17 acquired the infection in a tattoo parlor or through sexual contact. In Brazil, high infection rates in the community have led to more than 141 cases in children and adolescents.

The 10-year-old boy is the youngest monkeypox patient ever recorded in Argentina until now. The oldest patient is 61 years old. 99% of confirmed cases correspond to people of legal male gender. Also The presence of the virus was detected in 3 trans women and three of the cis gender, which means they identify with the gender assigned at birth. The majority have lesions with vesicles on the skin in various places, including genitals, perianal, hands, torso and face, fever and swollen glands as symptoms.

In the world during 2022 there were 34 deaths due to monkeypox. None have been reported in Argentina so far. But during the last weeks, one of the patients required hospitalization in intensive care and mechanical ventilation. “This is an immunocompromised person who is currently stable,” the Health portfolio reported.

From May until now, there was a spread of the virus to different jurisdictions of the country. Cases have already been confirmed in 15 of the 24 jurisdictions and suspects in 19. But most of the cases are still concentrated in the Central region. 67% of the confirmed cases are registered in residents of the city of Buenos Aires and together with the provinces of Buenos Aires and Córdoba. These three jurisdictions concentrate 94.7% of the cases registered in the country.

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