Extremadura detects first suspected case of monkeypox in a woman

The Autonomous Community of Extremadura reported that the first suspected case of monkeypox, in a woman, was identified on Thursday, May 19.

According to the Coordinating Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES) of the Ministry of Health, she is the first female to display the symptoms in Spain, although the possibility still remains that the infection will be ruled out.

Clinical samples have been sent to the Majadahonda National Centre for Microbiology to confirm whether the patient has been infected or not.

According to new site APunt Media, Spain has confirmed some thirty cases of non-human pox, seven of them monkeypox, while the other 23 have yet to be sequenced to determine whether they have been infected.

The news comes following confirmation of a super-spreader event at a sauna in Madrid frequented by the LG BTI community. The facility has since been shut while investigations into the spread of the virus continue.

The Minister of Health of the Community of Madrid, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, confirmed the majority of the cases in the region are due to this event and that the closure of the facility was: “to control infections, cut the transmission chains and preferably try to attenuate the transmission of the virus in the as far as possible.”

Cases have also been reported elsewhere in the country, but these have yet to be confirmed, with Spain currently having the highest number of suspected cases on the continent.  

The British Minister of Health, Sajid Javid, has confirmed that there are now twenty, known to have the virus in the UK. A tweet by the minister said: “Most cases are mild, and I can confirm that we have provided more doses of vaccines that are effective against monkey freckles.”

The situation is the same in Portugal, where there are a reported 23 cases.

Unlike Spain, the majority of the countries have yet to identify the sex of those with the virus or to explain how it was transmitted.

With the first suspected case of monkeypox in a woman in Extremadura, health officials will be concerned, as they are in Madrid, that the number of infections rising quickly and so soon after the Covid-19 pandemic.

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