A second person with monkeypox has died in Spain, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday, the day after the announcement of the first death in the country of a person infected with this virus.
“Among the 3,750 current patients (…) 120 cases have been hospitalized and two have died,” said the Ministry’s Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies in its latest report published this Saturday, without specifying the date of this second. death.
A total of eight deaths have been recorded worldwide since May, with the first five reported in Africa, where the disease is endemic and was first detected in humans in 1970.
The ministry explained that they were “two young men” suffering from “monkey pox” and that studies were underway to have more “epidemiological information” on these two cases.
70% of contaminations are in Europe
In Spain, one of the countries with the most cases in the world, 4,298 people have been infected according to the latest data from the Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies. Most of the contamination is concentrated in Europe, where 70% of the 18,000 cases detected since the beginning of May are located and 25% in the Americas, according to the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
An increase in the number of deaths linked to monkeypox is to be expected, the WHO Regional Office for Europe said on Saturday. However, the organization emphasizes that severe complications remain rare.
“Given the continued spread of monkeypox in Europe, we expect more deaths,” said Catherine Smallwood, an emergency officer at WHO Europe, in a statement.
The objective must be “to quickly interrupt the transmission of the virus in Europe and put a stop to this epidemic”, insists Ms. Smallwood, who nevertheless underlines that without most cases, the disease is cured by itself. even, without requiring treatment.
“Monkey pox can lead to serious complications”
“The reporting of monkeypox-related deaths does not change our assessment of the outbreak in Europe. We know that although self-limiting in most cases, monkeypox can lead to serious complications,” she noted.
The Spanish authorities have so far not given the precise cause of death, pending in particular the results of an autopsy, while the Brazilian authorities have stressed that the deceased man suffered from “other serious conditions” .
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.
For now, the WHO stresses that there are not vaccines for everyone and therefore recommends prioritizing those who are most at risk, those who are sick and those who treat or make them. of research.