The Portuguese authorities announced five confirmed cases on Wednesday. In Spain, they are currently investigating eight suspicious cases.
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European health authorities have been monitoring the situation in other countries since the first case of monkeypox smallpox occurred earlier in the month in Britain, where seven patients are already registered.
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All five patients in Portugal with the disease, which have symptoms similar to smallpox, are men living in and around Lisbon. Another 15 people with similar symptoms are waiting for the results.
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In Britain, the first case of this infection appeared on May 7 in a man who returned from Nigeria. Other cases that, according to the BBC, are not related to the former, were later confirmed.
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Monkeypox is a rare viral disease that has similar but milder symptoms than smallpox. They were first reported in humans in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1970s, and were subsequently reported in other African countries. They were named after the macaque monkey in which the virus was first discovered in the late 1950s. The disease is transmitted from humans to humans, but is not very common.
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Symptoms, transmission and mortality of the virus
The incubation period, ie the time before a person becomes ill, is around ten days. First comes the fever, headaches, muscles and other parts of the body. The fever exceeds 38.3 degrees Celsius. After two to four days, the fever subsides and typical smallpox changes begin to appear on the skin of the face and body. The following days will decide whether the patient survives or recovers. Mortality reaches 10 percent.
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The virus is transmitted to humans by bites or scratches or direct contact with the blood of infected animals (especially rodents). It also spreads through the air or body fluids of infected people.
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