The authorities assure that the patients remain stable and under treatment at the Hospital Militar Doctor Ramon de Lara in Santo Domingo. | Photo: msp.gob.do

Santo Domingo, August 23 (RHC)-- The Ministry of Public Health (Mispas) of the Dominican Republic has reported two new positive cases of smallpox virus in the country, making seven since the first confirmed last July.

The new infected are two men, 32 and 60 years old, of Dominican nationality, residents of San Cristóbal, in the east, and in the town of Moca, in the northern province of Espaillat.

According to the Mispas communiqué, both remain stable and are receiving medical attention at the Hospital Militar Doctor Ramon de Lara located in the capital city of Santo Domingo, for the common signs and symptoms of the disease.

They also informed that during the previous day, the other two patients hospitalized in that institution with monkeypox were discharged, already cured of the disease.  The health authorities recalled that the first case appeared in the Dominican Republic last July 6 in a 25 year-old man from the United States.  

The United States accounts for around 35 percent of the cases reported worldwide, with some 15,000 infected, followed by other countries with significant numbers, such as the United Kingdom, Spain and France.

In Latin America, Brazil tops the list as third globally, with more than 3,800 cases and some 4,300 suspects, followed by Peru, Mexico, Chile and Colombia.   On the other hand, Cuba became this Saturday the 95th country in the world to register the presence of simian smallpox through a tourist from Italy.      

This disease, declared an international emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), produces diverse symptoms such as fever, headaches, tiredness and skin lesions.