- As of July 27, 2022, 19,300 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 75 countries and territories around the world.
- The first human case of this disease occurred in 1970.
- The WHO has already declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern.
Throughout history thousands of diseases have arisen. But now the world is on alert for one that had been endemic for decades but in recent months has spread from its place of origin to spread throughout much of the planet. It’s about monkeypox, but do you know which are the countries with the most confirmed cases?
disease onset
To summarize, it is a disease caused by an orthopoxvirus of the smallpox family, which was the first disease eradicated by humans thanks to coordinated public health actions. It is colloquially called the monkey because in 1958 it was detected in these animals. However, it can also be found in rodents.
The first human case was detected in 1970. and, since then, outbreaks have been reported in a dozen African countries. It was not until 2003 that cases were confirmed outside this continent, causing outbreaks of the disease in different years.
While this 2022 arrived in Europe for the first time and has caused the largest number of cases on record.
For the mentioned, The World Health Organization (WHO) has already declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. This is the highest level of global alert that exists and the decision was made due to its rapid transmission and the large number of countries affected.
Monkeypox spread around the world
Currently all regions of the world are affected by this disease. From January 31, 2022 to July 27, the total number of confirmed cases globally amounted to just over 19 thousand 300according to the records of Global.health.
While Statistical compiled information about the countries with the most cases of monkeypox in the world. In the first place is Spain with 3,738 confirmed infections. It is followed by the United States, with 3,480 infected people, Germany (2,459), the United Kingdom (2,432), France (1,831), the Netherlands (818), Brazil (813) and Canada (744).
On the other hand, one of the most important points is to know the classic symptomatology of this disease. The official list of complaints that patients develop is as follows:
- Sudden onset of fever (38°C)
- Headache
- Exhaustion
- Muscle pains
- Swelling of the lymph nodes
- deep weakness
- Rash, the first eruptions appear on the face, hands and later spread to the rest of the body.
However, one of the most recent works that have been carried out is an investigation published in The New EnglandJournal of Medicine. It included the analysis of 528 patients from 43 countries between April 27 and June 24, 2022.
One of the first aspects obtained is that 98 percent of the cases correspond to homosexual and bisexual men. Therefore, it is the most vulnerable group, although in the end anyone can be infected because infections have even been reported in babies.
Regarding the mode of infection, the main route is sexual although it is not the only one. It is now known that the virus can also be transmitted by any close physical contact via large respiratory droplets. While another way is suspected to be through clothing and other surfaces.
But the most interesting point of the work is that it mentions three new clinical symptoms that were previously unknown. For this reason, it has been requested to expand the symptomatology in patients and add the following:
- genital lesions.
- Sores in the mouth or anus.
- proctitis.
Meanwhile, we share with you a graph prepared by the editorial team of salutary with the countries that have the most confirmed cases of monkeypox at this time.