The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in Italy rose to seven.
The last two outbreaks were recorded in Lombardy in the north of the country and in the capital city of Rome.
Six of these seven cases are followed by the Instituto Lazzaro Spallanzani, a Rome hospital that is a reference in the treatment of infectious diseases in Italy, and the other by the Sacco Hospital in Milan.
Many of these are linked to patients who have recently returned from Spain’s Canary Islands, where the current monkeypox epidemic in Europe is suspected to have started.
“There are no alarms, but the epidemiological surveillance system is in a state of extreme caution,” said Alessio D’Amato, health secretary for the Lazio region where Rome is located.
The virus can be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and skin lesions, including saliva drops and sexual intercourse.
Its symptoms are similar to those of smallpox, which has been eradicated around the world since 1980, for example, fever, myalgia, and the appearance of blisters on the skin, although milder.
Cases of the disease have already been confirmed in more than 10 countries in recent days, including Germany, Argentina, Canada, Spain, the United States, France and the United Kingdom.
The name “monkey pox” derives from the discovery of the virus in monkey colonies in 1958. It is currently believed that rodents are the main hosts of the pathogen.
The first human case dates back to 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during efforts to eradicate smallpox.
source: Noticias
