Puerto Rico's Secretary of Health, Víctor Ramos Otero, announced during a press conference at La Fortaleza that the island has recorded one case of malaria and four cases of severe monkeypox (mpox) this year. The malaria case, described as "imported," involved a foreigner who arrived on a cruise ship; Ramos Otero noted Puerto Rico has had no local malaria transmission since 1962, per the World Health Organization, since the transmitting mosquito is absent from populated areas.
He compared it to an early July case of imported cyclosporiasis ("explosive diarrhea"). Regarding mpox, four cases have been reported this year, two last week alone, all of the more severe "clade 1" strain typically found in Central Africa; 285 people were infected last year.
Ramos Otero said the current cases involved men who have sex with men, and noted vaccines are available only through private providers. Separately, he reported a rise in COVID-19 cases mirroring trends in the United States, with 557 cases recorded last week and transmission levels described as high.