The Ministry of Health reported this Wednesday, August 3, on the first case of monkeypox in Guatemala. The National Health Laboratory indicated that it is a 31-year-old man, resident in Guatemala City.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned of at least 16,000 infections in 75 countries.
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The official Health statement details that the patient’s samples were analyzed in the country and came out positive for the detection of the virus.
Just last July 27, The Minister of Health, Francisco Coma, informed that they were analyzing the purchase of vaccines against smallpox, due to the cases that have been detected in several countries.
This Wednesday, August 3, after being informed of the first contagion in Guatemala, Minister Coma again referred to the issue of the vaccine against this disease.
According to Comma, Latin America has only 100 thousand vaccines destined for now against monkey pox. He added that they are making efforts to obtain doses for Guatemala.
He added that they have made contacts with international organizations “because at this time access to the vaccine through purchase is not possible.”
He indicated that they knocked on doors at the Pan American Health Organization so that at a certain moment Guatemala is taken into account to acquire the vaccine.
“It is a vaccine that had ceased to be produced and I want to highlight that, we did not see viral activity of this disease like the one we have experienced in recent months,” he said.
He added that the WHO should rethink this issue and the producers of the doses to increase its availability in the world.
He stated that there is no date for the arrival of the vaccine in Guatemala, since they depend on distribution.
Coma added that he has information that no country in Latin America has vaccines for now. He indicated that they have spoken with infectologists and the most important thing is the conservative management of the disease, because some retrovirals have been developed for the treatmentbut they do not yet have a formal approval by any drug agency.
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