A sauna in Madrid was forced to close its doors for being a possible source of transmission of the monkey poxa rare disease that spreads throughout Europe and especially in spain. The news was confirmed by the health authorities.
The establishment is a gay place called “El Paraíso” and is located in the center of the Spanish capital. The place is suspicious of being the origin of many infections in the city.
“Most of these positives are associated with this focus,” explained the Minister of Health of the Madrid’s community, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, who reported 21 confirmed cases of the monkey pox and 19 suspects in the region.
“Sauna Paraíso will remain closed for the next few days as a precautionary measure in the face of the alert launched by Health for the appearance of infections of the so-called monkey virus in the Community of Madrid,” the address of the place indicated on its Twitter account.
He also appealed “to the individual responsibility of each person to avoid the transmission of any infection.”
In spain, Health is the responsibility of the regions, so the global count is not immediate. At the national level, the Ministry of Health only confirms seven cases at the moment, while another 23 have tested positive for “non-human smallpox” and still need to be sequenced “to determine what type of smallpox it is.”
If confirmed, the national balance would rise to 30 cases, which would make Spain the country with the most identified infections in Europe. Other regions such as Galicia, the Basque Country or Extremadura are also investigating suspected cases of the virus.
What is monkeypox?
The Monkeypox is a rare disease originating in Africa. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and rashes, often on the face, similar to chickenpox.
Most, but not all, of the cases identified in recent days have been in men who have sex with men. There are no specific treatments or vaccines against monkeypox, which usually heals spontaneously.
The infections, for the moment, are not serious. Although it is still early days, it seems that these infections come from a less aggressive strain of the virus, with a mortality rate of 1%. After the United States, several European countries such as Portugal, France or Germany have reported infections.
In total, there are already 80 confirmed cases and another fifty are under study, according to the WHO.
(With information from AFP)