In response to the spread of monkeypox, the governor of the state of New York has declared a state of emergency. "This action allows us to respond more quickly to the outbreak and take additional steps to vaccinate more New Yorkers," Kathy Hochul said in a statement released Friday (local time). To contain the virus, you have to “use every tool” and protect risk groups in particular as well as possible. Up to 150,000 residents of the city are at risk of infection.
Among other things, contact tracing will be intensified and more health workers mobilized to administer vaccinations. In addition, the test capacities would be expanded. The state of emergency is valid until August 28th. Also on Friday, the state's Department of Health reported 1,383 confirmed infections with the monkeypox virus, which are mainly concentrated in the metropolis of New York - this corresponds to about a quarter of all cases previously registered in the USA. California reported 799 cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had already declared the highest alert level last weekend. As of the most recent count, there have been nearly 23,000 cases of monkeypox worldwide. The Europe region is particularly affected with more than 14,000 cases, around 2,600 of which are in Germany.
Currently, the outbreak is largely focused on men who have sex with men. However, according to the health authority CDC, cases in children have already been confirmed in the USA. Monkeypox infection can cause a rash, swollen lymph nodes, fever, chills, and muscle pain. As a rule, the disease is not fatal, but the first two European deaths in Spain became known on Friday and Saturday.
The two patients died in hospitals in the regions of Valencia and Andalusia. According to official information, both had been admitted with encephalitis. The Health Ministry of the Region of Valencia announced on Friday evening that the patient's death was "caused by an infection-related encephalitis (inflammation of the brain)." The regional newspaper "Levante" wrote that it was a "man of about 40 years old" who was in intensive care in Alicante.
In Andalusia, the Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that the second fatality was a 31-year-old. He was brought to the intensive care unit of the University Hospital in Córdoba with meningoencephalitis – in addition to the brain, the meninges are also affected.
Several Spanish experts stressed that both deaths were probably due to previous illnesses. "In 99 percent of cases, it is a benign infection, but there are patients who are more susceptible, for example people with comorbidities or children," said microbiologist José Antonio López Guerrero of Madrid's Universidad Autónoma to the newspaper El País. . Regarding encephalitis, he said that these are not uncommon in various viral infections.
It was initially unclear whether there were concomitant diseases in the two deaths. "El País" wrote that the medical institute "Instituto de Salud Carlos III" in Madrid wanted to examine tissue samples in order to better understand the causes of death.
Spain is one of the countries hardest hit by monkeypox. With around 4,300 cases recorded, there were around 120 hospital admissions, the Ministry of Health said. Experts called for more and better measures to curb the spread of the disease.
One must prevent the virus from "spreading to brothels or families with children," said the immunologist Alfredo Corell from the University of Valladolid to the newspaper "El Mundo". You also have to think about isolating infected people. The head of the department for infectious diseases at the Badalona University Hospital, Roger Paredes, demanded that the authorities not only in Spain but throughout Europe "accelerate and strengthen" the actions against monkeypox - for example through more vaccinations.
Brazil also reported its first possible monkeypox-related death on Friday. The Ministry of Health in Brasília said it was a patient with other diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) had previously registered five deaths in the current monkeypox outbreak - all in Africa.
