Monkeypox reported in all 27 Brazilian states

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RIO DE JANEIRO. KAZINFORM Throughout Brazil, approximately 8,850 exams have been conducted in laboratories to confirm cases of monkeypox, the Ministry of Health reported. The country has recorded 3,100 cases of the disease across all 27 states, as per official data released last Tuesday (Aug 16).

As it stands today, eight centers are apt to provide the diagnosis—four of which are central public health laboratories in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, and the Federal District, Agencia Brasil reports.

Minister of Health Marcelo Queiroga said on public radio program A Voz do Brasil last Friday (12) that all the central public health laboratories will be able to perform RT-PCR tests for monkeypox by the end of August.

Expansion

Amilcar Tanure, coordinator at the at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Molecular Virology Laboratory, argued that more tests should be performed and that the number of laboratories apt able to run it should be expanded. «Since the lesions caused by the virus are not exactly beautiful, the recommendation is that people who suspect they may have monkeypox should seek assistance, go to an emergency care station, and be tested.»

Tanure said that Rio health authorities plan to create two centers to receive samples from these patients. One of the testing centers would operate in Maracanã, in the capital, and another in Nova Iguaçu, in the Baixada Fluminense region. «We must expand testing and collection sites and train agents to perform the collection appropriately. The more we test, the more we will be able to isolate infected people and block the transmission of the virus.»


Photo: agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br





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