Two people have died in Spain due to monkey pox.
Spain’s Health Ministry reported the country’s second death from the outbreak in as many days on Saturday, marking the first fatalities in Europe and joining Brazil as the country with the second-highest number of fatalities outside Africa.
The death came a week after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
The ministry confirmed that both deaths were among young men. The vast majority of infections in the United States and Europe have occurred among men who have sex with men, but health officials have stressed that anyone can catch and spread the virus.
Also known as orthopoxvirus, the disease can be spread through bodily fluids or close body contact with a patient’s pus-filled lesions, as well as contact with respiratory secretions, according to the CDC. Symptoms usually disappear in a matter of weeks.
A health professional administers a monkeypox vaccine to a 41-year-old man in Barcelona, Spain. Francisco Seco/AP
On Friday, Spain’s Health Ministry said the country’s total number of infections had reached 4,298, the highest in Europe, although only 120 required hospitalisation. Spanish health authorities plan to administer 5,300 vaccines, an amount that Spanish health workers consider too low.
The worldwide rollout of the vaccine has faced widespread criticism for delivering too few shots too slowly, as well as concerns about the inequities facing African countries, which have battled the virus for decades, while the wealthier nations race to buy limited shares.
The US Centers for Disease Control had confirmed 22,485 infections worldwide, including 5,189 in the US, as of Friday. Only Montana, Vermont and Wyoming have remained case-free since the outbreak began. New York leads the United States with 1,345 confirmed cases, including 1,289 in the five boroughs.
There have been three deaths believed to have been caused by monkeypox outside of Africa. Francisco Seco/AP
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a “disaster emergency” spreading across the state Friday night. Mayor Eric Adams followed up with a public health emergency declaration Saturday afternoon.
With post cables.