The Ministry of Health has announced Spain will participate next Monday in the European Union’s Health Security Committee, after the WHO declared an international health emergency due to the new outbreak of mpox (previously monkeypox).
- He Health Safety Committee It is an EU forum that defines the actions to be taken to respond to cross-border threats that may pose a risk to health.
The situation. The current surge in cases is occurring on the African continent due to a strain of the virus that causes it to spread more quickly among humans. This is the Ib variant, belonging to clade I (one of the two genetic groups of the virus).
- This variant of the virus has already crossed the African border after this week the first case has been reported In Europe, specifically in Sweden. In addition, in Pakistan they are analyzing which variant three people have been infected with.*
- In Europe, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention assured which is monitoring the evolution of this variant in Africa and will soon issue an updated risk assessment.
- The “old” variant of monkeypox, clade II, has not stopped circulating in recent years on the European continent, and Spain has not been an exception. In fact, it is the country on the Old Continent with the most notifications of mpox since the outbreak broke out in 2022.
Cases of monkeypox reported in Spain. So far this year, 264 cases have been reported, according to the latest report epidemiological situation. Almost half of them (118) have been detected in Madrid. The following map shows the distribution by communities:
This article has been updated to include reported cases of the new variant outside Africa.
The DANA causes more than 400 incidents in the Balearic Islands
Fuentes
Ministry of Health
European Commission website
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control website
