Cuba confirms first monkeypox case in visitor from Italy

By Mario Fuentes

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba confirmed its first case of monkeypox late on Saturday, the country’s Public Health ministry said, after detecting the viral disease in a tourist who had arrived from Italy this week.

The Italian man stayed in a rental home and traveled to various destinations in the western provinces of the Caribbean island nation before falling ill, the ministry said in a brief statement.

He sought medical attention on Thursday after presenting symptoms, including skin lesions, and then fell into cardiac arrest, from which he recovered, the statement said.

The patient remains in critical condition.

The World Health Organization has declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency, with 40,000 confirmed cases, including a handful of deaths, in over 80 countries where the virus is not endemic.

(Reporting by Mario Fuentes; Writing by Dave Sherwood; Editing by William Mallard)