Monkeypox has given a truce in recent months and since September there has been a notable drop in infections in Europe, and also in Spain, the country with the most infections on the continent and which continues to lead the notification of new cases. In the last four weeks, the Ministry of Health has registered 33 patients, more than double that of France (14) and more than a third of those recorded in Europe (85), according to data from the European Center for Prevention and Control. of Disease Control (ECDC).
The reports from this body show that Spain has been the epicenter of the disease in the European zone, which includes the EU and neighboring countries. Since May 18, when the first case was recorded, Health has recorded 7,538 infections, well ahead of the cases reported in the same period by France (4,127), the United Kingdom (3,702) and Germany (3,676). In total, 30% of the known cases in Europe have occurred in Spain.
Meanwhile, throughout the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded more than 85,000 infections and 92 deaths from mpox, the name with which the international organization has renamed the disease to avoid stigmatization. The focus, now, is on Latin America and the Caribbean, which represent 82% of recent infections and on Africa, with 10% of new infections. In this region, the disease is endemic.
In the last days of the Valencian Society of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, the epidemiologist from the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES) Bernardo Guzmán offered the keys to the reduction in cases: the saturation of transmission chains, the effect of disease prevention and control measures, vaccination and decreased exposure after the summer period. “After months of virus circulation, it has been observed that the vast majority of cases in our country and throughout the world continue to be identified mainly in men who have sex with men,” Guzmán recalled.
massive parties
Monkeypox, which is transmitted mainly by close contact in a sexual relationship, spread in Spain during the summer, coinciding with massive parties. According to the documents of the Ministry of Health, 82 infected people had attended the Gay Pride in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), 257 at different events in Barcelona, 125 at events in Madrid, 60 at the Gay Pride in Torremolinos, 43 at the Gay Pride in Sitges, 17 to the Pride festival in Valencia, five to the Pride festival in Seville and 562 to meetings in other parts of the country.
The evolution of the patients in general has been favourable, underline the studies of the department of Carolina Darias, although 3% of the cases required hospitalization and 9% presented some complication. The disease has also caused two deaths in Spain due to meningoencephalitis associated with it and another due to various complications derived from a disseminated mpox infection.
The worst is over, but monkeypox prevention remains on hold amid the prospect of a possible rebound when summer rolls around again and fears of reinfections after the UK identified the first patient to have contracted the disease twice. The WHO continues to consider mpox as a “public health emergency of international concern,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last Thursday during the fourth meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee. “In the long term, mpox programs and services should be integrated into national surveillance and control programmes, including those for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections,” Ghebreyesus called.
At the Council of Ministers on February 7, Darias announced that Spain will subscribe to the European Union’s joint purchase of vaccines against monkeypox to create a strategic reserve. In November, the minister had announced that Spain was going to acquire 47,000 doses before the end of last year. The Danish company Bavarian Nordic is the only one that manufactures a vaccine that has the authorization of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The EMA stresses that the vaccine is effective with two doses.
