WHO predicts spike in monkeypox deaths in Europe – rts.ch

An increase in the number of deaths linked to monkeypox is to be expected, estimated on Saturday the WHO Regional Office for Europe. This alert comes as the first deaths outside Africa were announced in Spain and Brazil.

“Given the continued spread of monkeypox in Europe, we expect more deaths,” a WHO Europe emergencies officer said in a statement.

The objective must be “to quickly interrupt the transmission of the virus in Europe and put a stop to this epidemic”, insisted Catherine Smallwood. It points out, however, that the disease heals itself in most cases, without requiring treatment.

“The reporting of monkeypox-related deaths does not change our assessment of the epidemic in Europe. We know that, although self-limiting in most cases, monkeypox can lead to serious complications,” a- she noted.

Causes of death still uncertain

“Among the 3,750 patients (…), 120 cases were hospitalized and two died,” the Spanish Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies said in a new report on Saturday. They are “two young men” suffering from “monkey pox”, explained the Ministry of Health without providing the precise cause of death.

The second death is that of a 31-year-old man hospitalized at the Reina Sophie hospital in Cordoba, in the south of the country. “The samples taken during the autopsy should make it possible to determine whether the cause of death was meningoencephalitis or another pathology,” said the Andalusian authorities.

Man followed for other conditions in Brazil

On Friday, Brazil also announced its first death, that of a 41-year-old man. The patient died at Eduardo de Menezes Hospital in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais (southeast). “He was followed in hospital for other serious clinical conditions died on Thursday,” said the health secretariat of this Brazilian state.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the country has recorded nearly 1,000 cases of monkeypox, most of them in the states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

These three cases, Spanish and Brazilian, bring to eight the number of deaths recorded in the world since May. The first five were reported in Africa, where the disease is endemic and was first detected in humans in 1970.

Spain is the most affected country

With 3738 cases according to the latest WHO report and the first two deaths recorded in Europe, Spain is the most affected country in the world, ahead of the United States (3478). But the Spanish Ministry of Health lists many more: 4298 cases as of Saturday.

Most of the contamination is concentrated in Europe, where 70% of the 18,000 cases detected since the beginning of May are located and 25% in the Americas, according to the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

International emergency declared on July 24

On July 24, the WHO triggered the highest level of alert, the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (USPPI), to strengthen the fight against monkey pox, also called monkeypox.

>> Lire: WHO raises its highest level of alert for monkeypox

For now, the WHO stresses that there are not vaccines for everyone and therefore recommends prioritizing those who are most at risk, those who are sick and those who treat or make them. of research.

Vaccination is carried out with two doses, spaced at least 28 days apart. For people vaccinated against smallpox in childhood, one dose is enough. For the immunocompromised, a third dose is recommended.

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