Health officials in Spain say that two people have now died from monkeypox virus.
On Saturday the Spanish Health Ministry reported the country’s second death from the outbreak in as many days.
The deaths come during the summer holiday season and just one week after the World Health Organization chief happened to declare that the monkeypox ourbreak was a global health emergency.
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The New York Post reports: The ministry confirmed that both deaths were among young men. The vast majority of infections in the US and Europe have occurred among men who have sex with men, but health officials have stressed that anyone can catch and transmit the virus.
Also known as orthopoxvirus, the illness can be transmitted through bodily fluids or close bodily contact with the pus-filled lesions of a patient, as well as contact with respiratory secretions, according to the CDC. Symptoms usually clear up in a matter of weeks.
On Friday, the Spanish Health Ministry said the country’s total infection count had reached 4,298, the highest in Europe, though only 120 required hospitalization. Spanish health authorities plan to administer 5,300 vaccines, an amount Spanish healthcare workers decry as far too low.
Niamh Harris