MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexican authorities confirmed on Saturday the first recorded case of monkeypox in Mexico.
Through his Twitter account, the Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, gave details of the case.
"Today we confirm the first imported case of monkeypox in Mexico. He is a 50-year-old man, a permanent resident of New York City, who was probably infected in the Netherlands. He is being treated in CDMX [Mexico City]," López-Gatell wrote.
The deputy health secretary said the man who contracted the disease "is stable and in preventive isolation."
According to the secretary, monkeypox is spread from person to person by direct contact. It is not spread by air, water or food.
"The efficiency of contagion is low, so there are generally isolated cases or small outbreaks, not generalized epidemics," López-Gatell wrote.
Monkeypox is a virus that originates in wild animals like rodents and primates, and occasionally jumps to people. The Associated Press reports most human cases have been in central and west Africa, where the disease is endemic.
Isolated cases of monkeypox are occasionally spotted outside Africa, including in the U.S. and Britain. The cases are typically associated with travel to Africa or contact with animals from areas where the disease is more common.
European and American health authorities have identified a number of monkeypox cases in recent days, mostly in young men.
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