Macau recorded a Mpox case yesterday, which came after two cases were reported here in 2023, the Health Bureau (SSM) announced in a statement last night.
Last night’s statement noted that the Mpox case reported yesterday is the third one since Macau recorded its first two cases in 2023.
The Health Bureau classified the Mpox case announced yesterday as imported.
According to the statement, the patient is a 29-year-old local man. He came down with a fever, sore throat and diarrhoea on Saturday last week, after which he sought treatment at a hospital in the mainland.
After the man returned to Macau on Tuesday night, he sought follow-up treatment at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre where he was diagnosed with Mpox after testing positive for the monkeypox virus.
Previously, the viral illness was known as monkeypox.
The man was in a stable condition at the time of last night’s statement, which, however, did not elaborate on whether he was in hospital isolation.
The statement said that the patient had engaged in high-risk sexual practices during the incubation period outside Macau. However, according to the statement, the patient told the Macau Health Bureau that he did not engage in high-risk sexual practices when he was in Macau, neither had he engaged in such activities after coming down with Mpox symptoms.
The statement said that the man had not been vaccinated against Mpox.
The statement noted that previously Mpox had primarily been prevalent in Africa, before the disease started spreading quickly in Europe and North America in May 2022. MPox infections have now been reported in various countries and regions worldwide, the statement said.
Macau recorded its first Mpox case in September 2023, and another case three months later.
One more imported chikungunya case
Meanwhile, Macau recorded one more imported case of chikungunya on Tuesday night, raising the total number of such cases to 10 this year, the Health Bureau announced in a separate statement yesterday.
The patient is a 67-year-old local man who lives in Patane district. He visited Jiujiang Town in Foshan City’s Nanhai District between Wednesday last week and Sunday. After returning to Macau, he came down with muscle and joint pain in his arms and legs on Monday, after which he sought treatment at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre on Tuesday where he was hospitalised.
He was diagnosed with chikungunya fever by the Health Bureau’s Public Health Laboratory on Tuesday night.
This poster downloaded from the website of Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) yesterday shows information on Mpox.
