Smallpox monkeys: first case in Tuscany, in Italy they rise to 4

First case of monkeypox in Tuscany, fourth in Italy: a 32-year-old man returned from a holiday in the Canary Islands hospitalized at the San Donato hospital in Arezzo.

This is what we read in a note released by the ASL Toscana Sud Est in which we read that "The Spallanzani National Company and Institute of Rome inform that a 32-year-old man from Arezzo returned in recent days from a holiday in the Canary Islands tested positive for monkeypox, and is admitted to the Infectious Diseases Department of the San Donato hospital. It is a person who returned to Italy on May 15 who quickly presented the symptoms of the disease ".

The ASL explains that the 32-year-old, "in the days between 15 and 20 May had no contact with his family, as the man lives alone. On 20 May he went to visit his general practitioner who he referred him to infectious disease clinics ": he was" immediately taken in charge by the doctors of the ward as he had skin lesions suggestive of the infection ".

The Spallanzani Institute was thus contacted "both for an opinion on the lesions, confirming the clinical suspicion placed in Arezzo as they were similar to those of the 3 patients hospitalized by them, and for sending samples for laboratory confirmation" .

The swabs were sent on May 21 to the Spallanzani virology laboratory and "

At the same time, the ASL prevention service "has taken steps to identify all the contacts of the person who have been reached and for which a surveillance on the onset of symptoms is planned for the next 21 days. The symptoms and signs to look out for are skin lesions (vesicles and pustules), fever, malaise and swollen lymph nodes ".