Suspected mpox case at Brazilian airport likely chickenpox, hospital says

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -A suspected case of mpox in a passenger at Brazil's main international airport is likely chickenpox, a Sao Paulo hospital said on Monday, as health officials remain on alert for a new mpox variant that has caused global concern.

State-owned infectious disease hospital Emilio Ribas said chickenpox was the main hypothesis for the reported case, and that laboratory tests should confirm the patient's ailment in the coming days.

Brazil's health and sanitation regulator Anvisa earlier said that a passenger, who had been in an area of Sao Paulo airport cordoned off for people waiting to request refugee status, presented "signs and symptoms compatible with mpox."

The World Health Organization (WHO) this month declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the virus spread rapidly in Africa.

Brazil's health ministry said more than 700 confirmed or probable cases of mpox had been reported in the country this year, although none of them were of the new variant.

Neither Anvisa, which said no other suspected cases were found in the airport, or Emilio Ribas provided details on whether the potential case could be of the new variant.

While it did not report where the passenger had traveled from nor their home country, Emilio Ribas said in a statement the person did not come from mpox-endemic areas.

More than 650 migrants without visas, particularly from India, Nepal and Vietnam, were waiting to enter Brazil through the Guarulhos airport as of Friday, according to a spokesperson for the public defender's office, which alleged the migrants' human rights were being violated and their health deteriorating.

Last week, Brazil announced that it would tighten entry rules to stem a flow of foreigners using Brazil as a stopover to get to the United States and Canada.

(Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by David Gregorio and Stephen Coates)