The cases of monkeypox have not stopped growing in Seville every week and in just one month they have multiplied by seven. The first infection was detected two years ago, on May 26. So everything, this Tuesday, the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs of the Council notified 80 contagious in the provinces whereas at the end of June they barely exceeded ten (11). Only in the past four days, since last Friday, have they been added eleven new infections.
With these data, the province continues to be the Andalusian with the second highest number of patients. Malaga continues to have the highest incidence of the disease, with 146 active cases this year. Currently, in Andalusia there are 320 cases, nearly fifty more than Friday of last week. After Malaga and Seville, the third province with the most infections is Cadiz, with 41. It is followed by Granada with 20 and Cordoba with 19. And now, with less than ten infections, Huelva (eight), Jaén (four) and Almería (two).
The Ministry of Health also informs of the existence of 78 cases under investigation, after discarding 155 which, after their study, it was determined were not monkeypox. Finally, the Council points out that there are already 144 people who have transmitted the infection and have already been discharged without complications.
This is the first assessment in Andalusia after last Saturday the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, active the “public health emergency of international concern” after “the exponential increase in cases over the last month” of a disease that has infected more than 16,000 people in 75 countries. Europe is starting in the worst position in the world, since Europe It is the only region in the world where the disease has been cataloged by experts high risk”.
With this, there are already seven times when the WHO has sounded the alarm over the rapid spread of a disease, since in 2005 a total of 196 countries created an international legal basis with the aim of being able to confront “future global health threats.
But, What is the declaration of a global health emergency and what does it involve? The formal WHO statement defines it as “a extraordinary event which poses a risk to public health and which potentially requires a coordinated international response”.
One of the factors that motivated the activation of this alert is its rapid and continuous spread to new countries and regionsas well as the risk of onward transmission to vulnerable groups, such as immunocompromised people, pregnant women and children,” according to expert findings. Today, a month later, a Expert Committee divided in its votes, it deemed it appropriate to coordinate between countries to combat and strengthen the response to this infectious disease.
This statement is assessed as an extraordinary event that is determined to pose a risk to global public health. This definition implies a situation which presents itself as follows: it is a serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected situation; it is a “call to action” measure and a “last resort”; and has public health implications beyond the national borders of the affected State May require immediate international action.
The highest priority is contain the epidemic as quickly as possible so that it does not spread to other parts of this country and to other countries hitherto safe from the pandemic. Remember that for a contagion to occur between two people, close contact must take place, mainly with skin pustules, although this is also possible through thick drops of saliva or sexual contact.