Given the continued spread of monkeypox in Europe, deaths will rise, WHO Europe said. The agency therefore calls for the transmission of the virus in Europe to be interrupted quickly and “to stop this epidemic.”
In addition to the two deaths in Spain, a fatality has also been recorded in Brazil. However, it is not certain whether the monkeypox infection was also the cause of their death. The first five deaths from the current outbreak were reported in Africa, where the disease is common and was first identified in humans in 1970 in Congo. More than 18,000 infections outside Africa have been counted worldwide since the beginning of May, the most in Europe, according to the WHO.
Both victims in Spain severely affected by monkeypox had been hospitalized in the days before their deaths with infections affecting the brain. A man about 40 years old died in the city of Alicante from encephalitis caused by an infection. The other patient (31) in Cordoba suffered from a meningitis-like infection. It is possible that the victims died of an existing condition that predates the monkeypox infection. This is now being thoroughly investigated, Spanish media report.