Monkeypox Outbreak: In what comes as a big lapse by the health authorities, a Monkeypox-infected patient has escaped from the hospital facility meant for infected patients and fled the country, news agency AFP reported quoting local health authorities. The patient is reportedly a US citizen. The 48-year-old man, originally from Texas, fled the hospital in Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific coast last weekend despite having been told by medical staff that he should be tested for monkeypox and kept in isolation, the state health department said in a statement. According to AFP, the patient had returned to the United States on Monday, however, he visited several public facilities before during the course.


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According to the AFP report, the patient had symptoms of "cough, chills, muscle pain and pustule-like lesions on his face, neck and trunk, when he arrived at the hospital and thus, was told to be kept in isolation and get himself tested.


After fleeing the medical facility, the man went to the hotel where he was staying with his partner and caught a flight out of Puerto Vallarta on June 4, before authorities were able to locate him, said the agency.


The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to Mexican authorities on Monday that the patient had returned to the United States where a test confirmed he had monkeypox.


Travel history of the patient


According to AFP, the man was in Berlin, Germany, between May 12 and 16, and subsequently in Texas, prior to arriving in Puerto Vallarta on May 27.


During his stay in Mexico, he attended parties at the Mantamar Beach Club in the resort town of Jalisco.


Monkeypox cases in the world


The World Health Organization has confirmed more than 1,000 monkeypox cases reported in the current outbreak outside the countries in Africa where it more commonly spreads.


WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the risk of monkeypox becoming established in these non-endemic countries was real but preventable at this point.


29 countries have reported cases in the current outbreak, which began in May. None have reported deaths.