Spain’s health ministry on Saturday reported the country’s second death from the outbreak in as many days, marking the first deaths in Europe and joining Brazil as the second country with the most deaths 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 US and Europe have occurred among men who have sex with men, but health officials stressed that anyone can contract and spread the virus.
Also known as orthopoxvirus, the disease can be spread through body fluids or close physical contact with a patient’s pus-filled lesions, as well as contact with respiratory secretions, according to the CDC. Symptoms usually subside within a few weeks.
A healthcare professional administers monkeypox vaccine to a 41-year-old man in Barcelona, Spain. Francisco Seco/AP
On Friday, Spain’s health ministry said the total number of infections in the country had reached 4,298, the highest in Europe, although only 120 required hospitalisation. Spanish health authorities plan to administer 5,300 vaccines, a number Spanish health workers deplore as too low.
The global vaccine rollout has faced widespread criticism for providing too few vaccines too late, as well as concerns about the inequities facing African countries, which have battled the virus for decades, as wealthier nations struggle to buy limited supplies.
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 free of cases since the outbreak began. New York leads the US with 1,345 confirmed cases, including 1,289 in the five boroughs.
There have been three deaths believed to be caused by monkeypox outside of Africa. Francisco Seco/AP
Gov. Kathy Hotchul on Friday night declared the outbreak a state of “emergency disaster” in the state. Mayor Eric Adams followed suit by declaring a public health emergency late Saturday.
With Post cables.
