LA PAZ, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia's Health and Sports Ministry on Thursday said two new cases of monkeypox were detected, raising the total cases to three and leading authorities to redouble efforts to control the spread of the virus.
"As of Wednesday night, two new cases of monkeypox were confirmed so to date there are three confirmed cases," Maria Renee Castro, deputy minister of promotion, epidemiological surveillance and traditional medicine, told Xinhua.
The country's first monkeypox case, involving a 38-year-old patient, was confirmed on Monday in Santa Cruz. The patient is being treated by specialists and is in stable condition.
The new cases involve a 26-year-old Brazilian man and a 43-year-old Bolivian man who recently traveled to Brazil.
Authorities are testing people the patients came into contact with, said Castro, adding Bolivia has the capacity to diagnose and adequately control the disease to prevent its spread.
After the first suspected cases were reported at the end of May, the government took the necessary precautions to monitor and contain monkeypox, and to acquire the reagents needed to detect it, said Castro. ■
