I’m around 13 thousand (13,043) cases of monkeypox identified as of July 26 in 37 countries and areas throughout the European region of the World Health Organization (WHO). Of these, 12,761 cases were reported from 32 countries / areas to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Ecdc) and the WHO European Regional Office through the Tessy surveillance system, of which 12,689 laboratory confirmed. This was announced by Ecdc and WHO Europe in the latest update on the Monkeypox epidemic, in which 426 cases are indicated for Italy, in line with the latest national bulletin.
Of the cases recorded on Tessy for which sequencing was available, 171 were confirmed as belonging to the West Africa ‘clade’. Most of the cases concern people aged between 31 and 40 years (41%) and males (99.4% of those infected). Among those infected for whom HIV status is known, 37% are HIV-positive with the AIDS virus. In most cases the infection presented with a rash (94.7%) and systemic symptoms such as fever, fatigue, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, sore throat or headache (67%). No deaths were reported in the region. In 6.2% of cases there was a hospitalization. One case was admitted to the ICU for reasons unrelated to the infection.
Some infections (34) concern health workers, but for them – it is specified in the Ecdc / WHO bulletin – no occupational exposure has been reported.