On Thursday, the French Ministry of Health announced the discovery of the first suspected case of the virus monkeypox On French soil in the Paris / Ile-de-France region, amid indications of the virus spreading around the world.
The monkeypox virus causes symptoms of fever and a characteristic rash, in which bumps appear on the skin. It is usually mild, but there are two main strains of it, one of which is the Congo strain, which is the most dangerous, with a mortality rate of up to 10 percent, and the West African strain with a mortality rate of about 1 percent of cases.
Earlier Thursday, health officials in Spain reported 7 cases of monkeypox, and Portugal raised the number of confirmed cases to 14 on Thursday, with the disease spreading in Europe, after it was limited to Africa.
Officials said all of the cases reported in Spain so far involve men in Madrid. Antonio Zapatero of the regional health department revealed that health officials are currently testing another 22 suspected cases.
“More cases are likely to emerge in the coming days,” Zapatero told Spanish radio network Onda Cero.
Officials said that all cases identified so far have been mild, and that the infections appear to be linked to the close contact between the two transmission chains. No details were provided about whether the men had traveled to Africa or whether the cases were linked to other cases reported across Europe.
Portuguese authorities said Thursday that the country’s 14 confirmed cases were all reported in the area around the capital, Lisbon.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases in Britain rose to nine. Britain’s Health Security Agency said on Wednesday that the latest cases reported this week were seen “mostly in gay and bisexual men or men who have sex with men”, although it noted that it was unclear how people became infected.
In Rome, Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital said Thursday it had confirmed one case of monkeypox in a patient who had recently traveled to Spain’s Canary Islands. Sweden’s Public Health Agency also reported one case on Thursday, saying it remains unclear how the patient became infected.
The spread of monkeypox through sex has not previously been documented, but it can be transmitted through close contact with infected people or their clothing or bed linen.
On Wednesday, the US state of Massachusetts reported one case of monkeypox in a man who had recently traveled to Canada, prompting officials to investigate possible links to the outbreak in Europe.