First Monkeypox Death Report in Los Angeles

Washington (ST) – Los Angeles County has recorded its first confirmed death of monkeypox.

CNN quoted the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention as saying in a statement that the death that was recorded with the virus belonged to a person with a severely weakened immune system, stressing the need to encourage people with severely weakened immune system and those suspected of having monkeypox should seek medical care and treatment early.

Dr. William Schaffner in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center indicated that a person’s weak immune system cannot control the virus once it enters his body, and the virus multiplies in a way that cannot be contained and is likely to spread to many organ systems and disrupt their functions.

Deaths from monkeypox are extremely rare and often affect children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems, such as HIV.

The total number of monkeypox cases in the United States was about 22,000, with California having the largest number, with 4,300 cases.

Najla Khoury