Spain officials have announced that it has detected no fewer than 59 cases of monkeypox disclosing that would obtain vaccines and antiviral drugs to stem its spread through a joint European Union procurement deal.
A total of 59 people tested positive for the illness via polymerase chain reaction test, of whom 20 were confirmed to have it through genome sequencing, Health Minister Carolina Darias said.
In total, 171 suspected cases of monkeypox had been reported nationwide.
Read Also: First Monkeypox Case Reported In Switzerland
‘Spain also intends to acquire Imvanex smallpox vaccines and Tecovirimat antivirals, usually used to treat the same disease, through an EU joint procurement scheme to try to stall the spread of monkeypox,’ Darias said.
The European Union’s Health Emergency Response Authority ‘is going to make the smallpox vaccine available to member states,’ she said, adding the doses would be “distributed in an equitable manner between member states.’
The World Health Organisation has said that, as of May 22, more than 250 confirmed and suspected cases had been officially reported to the United Nations health agency from 16 countries outside endemic nations in west and central Africa.
Monkeypox, which is not usually fatal, can cause a fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, and a chickenpox-like rash on the hands and face.
In a related development, Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that Swiss health officials had on Tuesday reported the country’s first case of monkeypox in a person living in the canton of Berne but who was exposed while abroad.
Berne’s health authority said the patient had been treated as a walk-in case and was now isolating at home. Everyone who had come into contact with him had been informed, it added in a statement.
‘As far as we know, the person concerned was exposed to the virus abroad, the statement added.
Health officials became aware of the case on Friday, and it was confirmed as monkeypox the following day.
Switzerland thus joins several western countries, including Britain, Germany, Spain, Sweden the United Kingdom and the United States in reporting cases, raising fears the virus may be spreading.