The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide continues to rise. It reached 219 on Wednesday outside countries where the disease is endemic, according to a report released by the European Union disease agency.
A total of 19 countries where the disease is unusual, most of them in Europe, have reported at least one confirmed case, indicates the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in an epidemiological note released on Wednesday evening.
“Most of the cases are young men, identifying themselves as men who have sex with men. There were no deaths, ”says the European agency based in Stockholm.
Out of the 11 African countries where this rare disease is endemic, three countries currently concentrate most of the confirmed cases: the United Kingdom, the first country where unusual cases were spotted in early May (71 cases), Spain ( 51) and Portugal (37), according to the ECDC.
Europe concentrates most of the cases with 191 cases, including 118 in EU countries. Canada (15), the United States (9), Australia (2), Israel (1) and the United Arab Emirates (1) are the six non-European countries with cases considered confirmed. Suspicious cases are not counted in the report.
The total number of cases recorded by the ECDC on Wednesday has almost quintupled since its first tally on May 20, when the agency counted 38 cases.
“Atypical” situation
Monday, in its first risk assessment, the ECDC had however considered that the probability of contagion in the general population was “very low” but that it was on the other hand “high” in people with several sexual partners.
The same day, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed an “atypical” situation but deemed it possible to “stop” this transmission of the disease between humans.
The disease, a less dangerous cousin of smallpox, eradicated for about forty years, is endemic in 11 West African countries and in Central Africa.
It first results in a high fever and quickly evolves into a rash, with the formation of scabs.