These are the first deaths in Europe of people infected with monkeypox. The WHO expects an increase in deaths on the old continent.
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 3750 patients (…) 120 cases were hospitalized and two died“Said the Ministry’s Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies in its latest report published on Saturday, without specifying the date of this second death.
An increase in the number of deaths linked to monkeypox is to be expected, said the WHO Regional Office for Europe on Saturday after the announcement of the first deaths outside Africa. However, the organization stresses that severe complications remain rare. “Given the continued spread of monkeypox in Europe, we expect more deathssaid Catherine Smallwood, an emergency manager at WHO Europe, in a statement.
Stopping the epidemic
The objective must beto quickly interrupt the transmission of the virus in Europe and put a stop to this epidemic“, insists Ms. Smallwood, who points out, however, that without most cases, the disease heals itself, without requiring treatment. “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.
These are the first deaths in Europe of people infected with monkeypox. Friday, Brazil had announced a death, without it being known each time if the virus is indeed the cause of these deaths. A total of seven 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.
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. The latter also indicated that he had triggered the highest level of alert on July 24, the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (USPPI), to strengthen the fight against monkeypox, also called monkeypox.
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