The opening of the summer beach season is in parallel with the development of a new epidemic, which is spreading to European cities and resorts. It’s about monkeypox. Even though medical experts reassure tourists, the fact remains – cases of infection spread very quickly – smallpox has reached popular resorts – its symptoms are unpleasant, and even fatal. But the worst thing is that many media outlets are panicking, disrupting the already fragile tourist season this summer.
For example, there has been an outbreak of smallpox in Spanish resorts in the last few days, and to date, health authorities have confirmed more than 40 positive cases, while another 67 patients are being tested in 10 different regions. According to Spanish media, many new cases of infection have already been detected on the popular Canary Island of Fuerteventura. A spokesman for the Canary Islands Health Service confirmed the news without giving further details.
It is known that the infection is transmitted by prolonged contact. According to Spanish publications, this explains most of the infections detected after visiting the sauna, popular among gays in Madrid, and the recent festival in Gran Canaria, which attracted about 80,000 tourists from Europe.
However, although Dr. Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser, advised tourists in Spain to be “attentive to the virus”, she insisted that the risk to the population and “classic” tourists, in general, remained extremely low.
The incidence of monkeypox has so far been mostly in homosexual and bisexual men, although one infection has been reported in women in the Extremadura region of Spain. This has led many to misinterpret monkeypox as a sexually transmitted disease, although it can be contracted during sex, explained Andy Silla of the WHO.
“Although we see some cases of men having sex with men, it is not a gay disease, as some people on social media have tried to describe it. This is simply not the case, “the newspaper said.
Also read: Tourists were given recommendations on the spread of the monkeypox virus
The tropical virus is currently detected in sixteen countries, including the United States, Canada, and Australia, and although the WHO insists that its spread is completely “contained” and that human-to-human transmission can be halted, experts agree that “we can’t give up what’s going on “, especially when it comes to beach holidays. Although there is no vaccine against smallpox in monkeys, several reports have suggested that smallpox vaccination within four days of infection may have a “significant protective effect”.