Monkeypox is spreading, but the situation is far from alarming. There really was “no death”. The number of confirmed cases worldwide reached 219 on Wednesday outside of countries where the disease is endemic, according to a report released by the European Union’s disease agency.
A total of 19 countries where the disease is uncommon, most of them in Europe, have reported at least one confirmed case, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in an epidemiological note released on Wednesday evening. “Most of the cases are young men who identify as men who have sex with men. There were no deaths,” the Stockholm-based agency said.
Of the 11 African countries where this rare disease is endemic, three countries currently concentrate the most confirmed cases: the United Kingdom, the first country to detect unusual cases in early May (71 cases), Spain (51) and Portugal ( 37). Europe concentrates the most cases with 191 cases, including 118 in EU countries. Canada (15), the United States (9), Australia (2), Israel (1) and the United Arab Emirates (1) are the six non-European countries where cases are considered confirmed. Suspected cases are not counted in the report.
Probability of infection is “very low”
The total number of cases registered by ECDC on Wednesday has almost quintupled since its first count on May 20, when the agency counted 38 cases. On Monday, however, in its first risk assessment, the ECDC assessed the probability of infection in the general population as “very low”, but as “high” in people with several sexual partners. On the same day, the World Health Organization confirmed an “atypical” situation, but considered it possible to “stop” this transmission of the disease between people.