In this regard, Dr. Carilda Peña, Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Public Health, recently explained that the flow chart for the care of patients suspected of having the disease has already been defined.

Likewise, the measures to control the outbreak have been established and it has been decided which assistance units will attend to patients with the disease.

There are biosecurity norms for patients, family members and service providers, taking into account the level of contagiousness and the way in which this pathology spreads, the deputy minister pointed out.

On Saturday evening, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health reported an imported case, an Italian tourist who arrived in Cuba on August 15 and became the first case of monkeypox in the island.

According to the report, prior to been admitted to hospital he stayed in a rented house and visited several sites in western provinces of the country.

On August 17, he presented general symptoms and went to the health services on the 18th due to the persistence of symptoms.

The report adds that while been provided initial care, the symptoms worsened, requiring urgent transfer for hospitalization and intensive treatment, arriving at the hospital in cardiac arrest, from which he recovered.

During physical examination, skin lesions were identified that led to clinical suspicion of monkeypox. Samples were taken and sent to the National Reference Laboratory of the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, where the infection was confirmed by real-time PCR in the early morning of Saturday 20th.

The patient is in critical condition, with danger to his life. Possible associated causes that may have conditioned the severity of the case are being studied.

The epidemiological investigation is being applied in depth, at the same time as outbreak control actions are being carried out, in accordance with the protocol approved to deal with this disease in the country.

mh/jha/joe