Two new cases of monkeypox in Panama

Two new cases of monkeypox were detected in Panama on t Friday, August 19, bringing the total to seven reports f the Ministry of Health (Minsa).

Melva Cruz, general director of Health, said that two Panamanian men, one 56 years old and the other 36 years old, are the ones infected with the disease.

Cruz explained that both patients, without any relationship, presented skin lesions and due to the increase in these, they went to a hospital facility, where they were clinically evaluated.

Samples were taken and the Gorgas Memorial Institute confirmed the two new positive cases.

The patients are isolated in the San Miguel Arcángel Hospital, in  San Miguelito t, because they did not have the conditions required for quarantine in their residence.

Traceability teams have been activated.

“It is important that when we are in front of a person suspected or diagnosed with monkeypox, we wear a mask,” Cruz said.

He added that immunosuppressed or HIV patients may be susceptible to complications and “if not treated in time, it can cause death.”

However, he recalled that this is a self-limited disease that resolves itself after two or three weeks “with symptomatic treatment.”