PROPERTY SEARCH
PROPERTY SEARCH
ARCHIVED - Spain detects 8 cases of monkeypox and launches national alert
The virus has so far been detected in the UK, Portugal and Spain
First the United Kingdom sounded the alarm, then came Portugal: now, the Spanish government has issued a national alert after 8 suspected cases of the monkeypox virus were detected in Madrid.
According to sources from the Ministry of Health, the eight cases “still need to be confirmed after the corresponding analyses” but as per protocol, “an alert has been opened at the national level, the situation has been communicated to the Alerts Committee and all the key actors have been notified to guarantee a rapid, timely and coordinated response.”
Between May 6 and 15, seven cases of monkeypox, which is a virus endemic to central and western Africa, have been diagnosed in the UK. Most of the British patients have had to be hospitalised and although the first confirmed patient had travelled to Nigeria, none of the others have been to at-risk areas.
All of the men have reported having had sexual relations with other men, as is reportedly also the case with the Spanish patients.
Five cases have so far been confirmed in Portugal, while a further 15 are still under investigation.
The health authorities in all three countries have assured that monkeypox is not considered particularly contagious and that in general, transmission from person to person is limited. The virus is usually passed between close contacts through the respiratory system, according to the Ministry in Madrid, “but due to the characteristics of the 8 suspected cases the transmission points to being by contact with fluids.”
Monkeypox is a rare zoonotic viral disease in developed countries and although there is no vaccine, the WHO estimates that during previous outbreaks, the fatality rate has generally been between 1% and 10%, mainly in younger people. Initial symptoms include fatigue, headache, muscle pain and swollen lymph nodes which develop into a fever, skin rashes or lesions on the face and body after a few days.
Image: UK HSA
Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox
Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Read some of our recent bulletins:
25% Discount Special Offer subscription:
36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins!
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
(List price 3 months 12 Bulletins)
Read more stories from around Spain:
Contact Spanish News Today: Editorial 966 260 896 /
Office 968 018 268
