Monkeypox patient zero (0) in Bolivia “has apparently left the country; He has been with us for a very short time and subsequently he has returned to Canada. Therefore, we have not been able to have more contact and we are carrying out the investigation based on the people with whom the index case was to find out more about patient 0,” said María Renee Castro, Deputy Minister promotion, epidemiological and traditional surveillance. Medicine in an interview with Contact Bolivia.

The so-called index case is the 38-year-old patient, who was reported as the country’s first case of monkeypox last Monday.

In epidemiology, it is defined as index case to first case identified by the health system, in this case, the 38-year-old man from Santa Cruz. While patient zero is the case that gives rise to the outbreak, i.e. the Canadian citizen that he was in Bolivian territory and that he would have infected the Santa Cruz.

According to information from the Ministry of Health, the Bolivian patient is stable and his contacts are under observation; They will undergo clinical tests to exclude or confirm that they are infected because, at the moment, they are asymptomatic.

From the headquarters of Cruceño, its director Erwin Viruez pointed out that the patient is isolated and is in the “eruptive lesion resolution phase”.

On the other hand, he encouraged the population to go to health centers when they are suspected of having this disease. He recalled that the contagion is done by direct contact with lesions that may occur on the face, palms and feet.