Active infections of monkeypox in Bolivia amounted to 62, including the case of a child under 11 years of age, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, in addition to a patient who has already been discharged.
The regions of the country that have reported positive cases are Santa Cruz (53), La Paz (4), Cochabamba (5) and Potosí (1), while in the other five departments there are no infections.
The Bolivian Government declared an epidemiological alert in May and presented a protocol that is applied by the Departmental Health Services (Headquarters) in the nine regions of the country in the event of any suspected case of this disease.
The health authorities have recommended that the same biosecurity measures be used that are applied for covid-19, such as the use of face masks, frequent hand washing and physical distance, to contain the transmission of the disease.
The containment and prevention work is aimed at tracking the people who were close to the positive patients and monitoring their evolution in case they show any symptoms after the incubation period.
Monkeypox manifests itself with symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain, and the appearance of scabs and blisters that appear on the face, the palms of the hands, or the soles of the feet, among other areas of the body.
It has also been requested that in the event of the appearance of any of these signs, precautions be taken as a positive case, since the only way to rule out the disease is through a laboratory test.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that monkeypox cases fell last week worldwide, with the exception of America, where infections continue to rise.
The latest report from the agency quantifies 41,664 cases in 96 countries and 12 deaths.
The United States is the country with the highest number of cases, followed by Spain, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Peru and Portugal.