An HIV-positive patient who dropped out of HIV treatment and was infected with monkeypox died Monday in Peru, where more than 300 cases have been reported, a health official said.

• Read also: Death in India of a man infected with monkey pox

• Read also: Second death of a patient infected with monkeypox in Spain

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The 45-year-old man “arrived at the hospital in very serious condition with monkeypox. His health had weakened after abandoning his HIV treatment,” Dos de Mayo National Hospital director Eduardo Farfan said on local radio.

"He did not die of monkey pox, but of sepsis" caused by a weakened immune system, added the director of the hospital located in Lima. “The problem is that this was a patient with other morbidities,” which made him more vulnerable “and he decompensated,” Mr Farfan said.

Admitted Wednesday “highly infected” by the virus, “the germs which invaded his skin compressed his lungs”, explained the director of the hospital.

Spain has announced two deaths linked to monkeypox, the first in Europe. One was reported in Brazil and another in India.

However, it is unclear whether monkeypox was the cause of these four deaths. Autopsies are still underway in Spain. In Brazil, the authorities claim that the patient who died had other serious pathologies.

On July 24, the WHO triggered the highest level of alert, the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (USPPI), to strengthen the fight against monkey pox, also called monkeypox.