An outbreak of monkey pox in Spain has been linked to a super-spreading event in a sauna in Madrid.
Enrique Ruiz Escudero, the region’s head of health, said on Friday that most of the country’s 30 cases have been traced back to a single meeting place in the capital.
Britain on Friday confirmed 11 new cases of monkey pox, more than doubling the total number to 20.
Globally, 127 cases have been reported in 11 countries, according to John Brownstein, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in the United States who keeps track of cases.
The UK Health Safety Agency has said a significant proportion of recent cases here and in Europe have been found in men who identified themselves as gay, bisexual or men having sex with men
Portugal discovered a further nine cases on Friday, bringing the total number to 23. The previous 14 were all found in gay, bisexual and other men having sex with men.
In Belgium, three cases have also been linked to a fetish festival in Antwerp, reports The Telegraph.
Darklands Festival, which describes itself as a place where ‘different tribes in the gay fetish community (leather, rubber, army, skinhead, puppies …) gather to create a unique spectacle of fetish brotherhood’, posted a message on its website , where it read: ‘There is reason to believe that the virus has been brought in by visitors from abroad to the festival following recent incidents in other countries.’
Monkey pox is commonly found in West Africa and the virus is not often spread elsewhere.
That is why outbreaks reported in Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States have raised alarms among public health experts.
The disease, which was first detected in monkeys, is usually mild, but can in some cases cause serious illness.
Symptoms of monkey pox include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills and fatigue.
Rash can develop, often beginning in the face, which then spreads to other parts of the body, including the genitals.
It may look like chickenpox or syphilis, and crusts may form which then fall off.
The incubation period for monkey cups is usually from six to 13 days, but can vary from five to 21 days.
The cases in the UK are not all one cluster, with separate cases popping up that are not linked.
The first patient identified was a person who had returned from Nigeria, but other cases are not related to travel, suggesting that there is infection in the community.
A link was first drawn between gay men and monkey cups earlier this week, with the UKHSA urging men who have sex with men to be aware of any new rashes or lesions on their bodies.
Jimmy Whitworth, professor of international public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), said the outbreak in the UK was ‘unprecedented’.
He said: ‘There is a need to engage in the vulnerable community of gay and bisexual men to ensure that they are aware of the presence of this infection and report all signs and symptoms to the health facilities.
Cases need to be identified, isolated and treated, either in the hospital or at home, depending on the severity and circumstances.
‘Close contacts must be identified and monitored for signs of infection. Monkey pox is not very contagious, and with these measures the outbreak can be brought under control quickly. ‘
Professor Sir Peter Horby, director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute at Oxford University, said the spread of the virus outside Central and West Africa was ‘an unusual situation’.
Sir Peter told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: ‘It is transmitted by close person-to-person contact, and in the past we have not seen it be very contagious.
“What is unusual about what we are seeing now is that we are seeing transmission occur in society in Europe and now in other countries, so it is an unusual situation where we seem to have had the virus introduced, but now have an ongoing transfer within certain communities. ‘
Monkey pox is not usually a sexually transmitted infection, but it can be transmitted through direct contact during sex.
It can also be spread through touching clothes, bedding or towels used by a person with monkey pox, and through coughing and sneezing from a person with the infection.
UKHSA said monkey pox do not usually spread easily between humans and that the risk to the British population remains low.
Sir Peter said: ‘It seems that there is some element of sexual transmission, perhaps with just the very close contact between people and skin lesions, because a large proportion of the current cases are detected in gay and bisexual men.
‘So it’s very important that we get the message out that if people have unusual skin lesions, then they seek attention quickly so we can control this.
“The important thing is that we interrupt the transmission and this will not be established in the human population of Europe.”
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Dr. Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, said: “As we enter the summer season in the European region, with mass gatherings, festivals and parties, I am concerned that transmission may accelerate as cases are currently being discovered among those who engage in sexual activity and the symptoms are unknown to many.
“I would like to emphasize that people who get monkey pox should not be stigmatized or discriminated against in any way.
“Timely risk communication with the public is important, and public health agencies should to a large extent disseminate precise and practical advice on prevention, diagnosis and treatment.”
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