Monkeypox: What we know about the smallpox-like virus spreading in the UK, Portugal and Spain
Portuguese health authorities on Wednesday confirmed five cases of monkeypox - ... marking an unusual outbreak in Europe of a disease typically limited to Africa.
Portugal's General Directorate for Health added it was investigating another 15 suspected cases and that all were identified this month around the capital Lisbon.
British health authorities said on Monday they had identified four cases of monkeypox infections in London among gay and bisexual men, bringing the total to seven. Spain’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday it had also detected eight suspected cases of monkeypox that still needed to be confirmed.
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Human monkeypox primarily causes outbreaks in the tropical rainforest regions of Central and West Africa and is not typically seen in Europe.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had the first recorded human case of monkeypox in 1970.
Since then, cases have been reported in 11 African countries: Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan.
The first outbreak of monkeypox reported outside of Africa was linked to the importation of infected mammals in 2003 in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
More recently, in 2018 and 2019, two travellers from the United Kingdom, one from Israel, and one from Singapore, all with travel history in Nigeria, were diagnosed with monkeypox following a large outbreak there, according to Europe’s own health agency, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC),
You can catch the virus from the bite or scratch of an infected animal, by eating bush meat, being in direct contact with an infected human or touching contaminated bedding or clothing.
The virus enters the body through skin lesions, the respiratory tract, or the mucous membranes (the eyes, nose, or mouth).
Human-to-human transmission is thought to occur primarily through large respiratory droplets, which generally cannot travel more than a few feet, so prolonged face-to-face contact would be needed.
More here on the Montreal outbreak:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/monkeypox-canada-quebec-europe-us-outbreak-1.6458523
At least there are no worries for us older folks who had our smallpox vaccine.