Guyana has confirmed its first case of monkeypox, according to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony.
In an interview with the Department of Public Information this afternoon, Anthony confirmed that the patient is a male in his 50s from Region Four, who has since been isolated. “They start developing these signs and they came to the hospital and because the system was alerted, the doctors felt that ‘this looked like a suspected case of monkeypox and they followed the protocol that we have established, one of which is for us to take samples and for them to run it in the lab to confirm whether it’s monkeypox or not. So we’ve done that and we are now in a position to confirm that it is monkeypox,” he said.
Anthony said the patient had all the signs and symptoms and PCR testing was used to confirm the diagnosis.
The patient is isolated at the Ocean View Infectious Diseases Hospital and Anthony said he is stable and doing very well.
“The persons who the patient would have in contact with over this period we have also spoken with them and they are in quarantine,” he added.
As previously detailed by the ministry, monkeypox causes pus-filled blisters that crust over and fall off. After exposure, it may be several days to a few weeks before developing symptoms. Early signs of monkeypox include flu-like symptoms like:
• Fever
• Chills
• Headache
• Muscle aches
• Fatigue
• Swollen lymph nodes
After a few days, a rash often develops. The rash starts as flat, red bumps, which can be painful. Those bumps turn into blisters, which fill with pus. Eventually, the blisters crust over and fall off — the whole process can last two to four weeks. Persons can also get sores in their mouth, vagina, or anus.
Not everyone with monkeypox develops all of the symptoms.
