Health officials in Texas, United States, have on Tuesday announced the death of a person diagnosed with Monkeypox. This would be the first death recorded from the virus in the United States if confirmed that the monkeypox virus was the cause.
What’s more
While investigations are still underway to determine the cause of death, reports claim that the person was “severely immunocompromised.” This means the person’s immune system was too low to fight off viruses and infections. Also, the Texas Department of State Health Services revealed the person was an adult.
The big picture
The US government had earlier in the month declared the Monkeypox virus as a public health emergency. To fight the virus, the US government struck a $11 million deal to increase the limited supply of monkeypox vaccines. The funds would help circulate the domestic packaging of the vaccine and bolster supplies.
What you should know
The recent outbreak of monkeypox has led to deaths in Spain and Brazil. Nigeria has since January 2022 recorded the virus across 26 states. The summary shows that there were 56 suspected cases reported across 19 states from 25th July to 31st July 2022, with Ondo state getting the highest number of cases.
According to NCDC, there have been four deaths in the country- Delta (1), Lagos (1), Ondo (1) and Akwa Ibom (1).