New Delhi: Spain and Brazil have reported one death each from monkeypox in what are thought to be the first fatalities linked to an outbreak of the disease that began in early May.
Spain is one of the world’s worst-hit countries, with 4,298 people there infected with the virus, according to the health ministry’s emergency and alert coordination centre.
“Of the 3,750 (monkeypox) patients with available information, 120 cases were hospitalised (3.2 percent) and one case has died,” the centre said in a report.
An official would not give the specific cause of death for the fatality pending the outcome of an autopsy.
In Brazil a 41-year-old man died of monkeypox, local authorities said on Friday.
The man, who local media said had serious immune system problems, died on Thursday in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the southeastern Minas Gerais state.
He “was receiving hospital treatment for other serious conditions”, the state health ministry said in a statement.
“It is important to underline that he had serious co-morbidities, so as not to spread panic in the population. The death rate is very low” for monkeypox, said Minas Gerais health secretary Fabio Baccheretti, who added that the patient was undergoing cancer treatment.
