Guyana’s first monkeypox patient deemed non-infectious, sent home from hospital

The first monkeypox patient in Guyana has been discharged from isolation at the infectious disease hospital at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Monday during his daily COVID-19 update said the 57-year-old man from Region Four is non-infectious. The Health Minister also said the man has been given the ‘okay’ to return to his normal activities such as work.

“Our first monkeypox patient is now back at home. That patient is non-infectious and can resume work and we had a lot of his close contacts in quarantine and they have all now been rechecked. None of them showed any signs or symptoms of monkeypox so they can resume normal activity as well,” Dr Anthony said.

He further noted that since the second case, a woman in her 30s, there aren’t any other recorded cases. He confirmed that persons with rashes have been visiting healthcare facilities but none were recorded as monkeypox.

Dr Anthony said, “We haven’t found any new cases which is a good thing. We have had a number of calls and persons came in because they had various types of rashes but none of it was confirmed as monkeypox because we did the confirmatory test.”

He said that the ministry will continue to monitor the second patient while she received treatment at the infectious disease hospital.

Last week the minister said a total of 15 monkeypox samples were taken by the Ministry of Health and tested from persons living in Guyana. However only the aforementioned cases were positive. The samples were taken from persons living in Regions Two, Four, Five and Eight.

According to Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Shazeema Shaw, all infected monkeypox patients will exhibit skin rashes. The infectious disease hospital currently has a section reserved for possible monkeypox patients.