Spain's monkeypox case tally rises to 84, says health ministry

Madrid, May 26

Spanish health authorities reported 25 new cases of monkeypox on Thursday, bringing the total tally of infections in one of the main hotspots of the recent outbreak to 84.

The Health Ministry, which now considers all non-human-origin pox infections as monkeypox after a positive test while before only counting those confirmed by sequencing, also said there were 73 suspected cases.

Minister of Health Carolina Darias on Wednesday said Spain would buy monkeypox vaccines as part of the EU joint vaccine purchases and confirmed that the west African strain, which has a fatality rate in about 1 per cent of cases, was the one detected in Spain.

Spain, England and Portugal are the countries with the most cases in the recent outbreak of the usually mild viral disease outside its endemic areas in parts of west and central Africa. Reuters