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Spain reports first monkeypox-related death in Europe

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Spain reported its first monkeypox-related death on Friday, in what is thought to be Europe’s first death from the disease and only the second outside of Africa in the current outbreak.

Brazil reported earlier on Friday the first monkeypox-related death outside the African continent in the current wave of the disease.

According to a World Health Organisation report from July 22, only five deaths had been reported worldwide, all in the African region.

The WHO last Saturday declared the rapidly spreading outbreak a global health emergency, its highest level of alert.

In its latest report, the Spanish Health Ministry said 4 298 cases had been confirmed in the country. Of the 3 750 patients it had information on, it said 120 had been hospitalised – accounting for 3.2% – and one had died, without providing further details.

A spokesperson for the Health Ministry declined to give further details on the deceased person.

Earlier Brazil also reported the first monkeypox-related death. The Brazilian victim was a 41-year-old man who, according to the health ministry, also suffered from lymphoma and a weakened immune system.

“The comorbidities aggravated his condition,” the ministry said, adding the patient was hospitalized in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte and died from septic shock after being taken to the intensive care unit.

Brazil, along with the United States and Canada, is among the countries most affected by monkeypox in the Americas, where more than 5 000 cases have been reported to date, according to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).

PAHO said in a press briefing this week that almost all cases had been reported among men who have sex with men between the ages of 25 and 45, but warned that anyone can get the disease regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.

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