In the last 24 hours, a large increase in the number of monkeypox cases in Portugal has occurred. The number of monkeypox cases in Portugal has now increased to at least 119, reports CNN Portugal. This makes Portugal the third country with the most monkeypox cases in the world.
All of the cases in Portugal have been registered in men, with most of the monkeypox cases being under 40 years old. Most cases remained in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region.
Those with suspected symptoms should avoid “physical contact with other people and sharing clothes, towels, sheets, and personal objects while having lesions or other symptoms”, according to the DGS. Monkeypox is contagious and can be transmitted through a wound, the respiratory tract, or the eyes, nose, or mouth.
Portugal is one of the countries in the European Union that have asked to acquire monkeypox vaccines. A vaccine (MVA-BN) has already been approved for monkeypox in 2019 by the World Health Organization (WHO), but it is not widely available.
The WHO says that “any request for vaccine products may potentially be available in limited quantities through national authorities, depending on the country”. Germany has already ordered 240,000 monkeypox vaccine doses.
Less than a week ago, on May 27, there were 74 monkeypox cases in Portugal.