ARGENTINA – Health authorities in Argentina say they will inspect and quarantine a cargo ship in its waters after a crew member showed symptoms of mpox. A spokesperson for the country’s health ministry told CNN the inspection would be carried out by the border health service, which has already contacted the crew. According to the ship tracking service MarineTraffic, the vessel was anchored on a river off its destination in San Lorenzo as of 6:10 p.m. ET. Its previous stop was in Santos, Brazil.

Medical personnel will board it and inspect whether the crew member’s symptoms are compatible with mpox. If they are, they will take samples for study. The ship will remain in the harbor and the entire crew will be quarantined until the results of the studies are available. So far, the ministry has not said how many people are on board the Liberia-flagged ship named Ina-Lotte.

On Friday, the ministry called for strengthening border health control measures in Argentina, two days after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern due to an outbreak of mpox in parts of Africa. Other Latin American countries, such as Colombia, El Salvador, Venezuela and Mexico have announced similar surveillance measures. A deadlier strain of the virus, clade 1b, is spreading quickly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has reached at least four previously unaffected countries in Africa. (CNN)…[+]