The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide has reached 219 outside of endemic countries, according to an update from the European Union’s disease agency.
More than a dozen countries, where the disease is unusual and most of them in Europe, have reported at least one confirmed case, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in an epidemiological note issued on Wednesday evening.
This is the first time that transmission chains have been reported in Europe without known epidemiological links to West or Central Africa, where this disease is endemic.
Most of the cases were discovered in young men, who identify themselves as men who have sex with men, the agency added.
The United Kingdom, where monkeypox was first detected in early May, had the largest number of confirmed cases with 71, followed by Spain with 51 and Portugal with 37.
Outside Europe, Canada recorded 15 cases and the United States nine.
The total number of cases reported on Wednesday has increased fivefold since the first count on May 20, when the European Agency said there were 38 cases.
The agency said earlier this week that the risk of infection is “very low”, but cautioned that people who have multiple sexual partners, regardless of sexual orientation, are at greater risk.
“Clinical symptoms are generally described as mild,” she added, adding that there were no deaths.
Monkeypox, a less severe disease compared to smallpox, is endemic in 11 countries in West and Central Africa.
It is spread by a bite or direct contact with infected blood, meat, or body fluids, and initial symptoms include a high temperature before quickly developing into a rash.
People with it also develop a chickenpox-like rash on their hands and faces.
Usually, people infected with monkeypox recover spontaneously, as is known so far, and symptoms last for two to three weeks. Severe cases occur more often in children and are related to exposure to the virus, the patient’s medical condition, and the severity of complications.
Monkeypox is considered a rare disease, and it has been known to humans since 1970, and was discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire).