MEXICOCITY – Mexico reported on Saturday the first confirmed case of smallpox in the country, according to Deputy Secretary of Health Hugo López-Gatell.
The patient was a 50-year-old permanent resident of New York who is being treated in Mexico City, Lopez-Gatell said on Twitter.
“He was probably infected in the Netherlands,” Lopez-Gatell wrote, adding that the patient was isolated and in a stable condition.
On Friday, Argentina became the first Latin American country to report a case of smallpox.
Around 20 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of viral disease, with more than 200 confirmed or suspected infections, mostly in Europe.
The outbreaks are raising alarm because the smallpox monkey, which spreads by close contact and was first found in monkeys, occurs mainly in West and Central Africa, and only occasionally spreads. to other places.