The Directorate of Public Health, Consumption and Care of the Ministry of Health of the La Rioja Government has notified the Ministry of Health this Friday of the first confirmed positive case of monkeypox in the region.

The alert sound appears when the affected person requests assistance in health services because he shows a clinical picture that is in accordance with his disease, for which a sample of skin lesions is required for PCR. The test results confirmed a suspicious person positive on July 21.

According to the Ministry of Health, from a clinical point of view, the evolution of the patient is favorable and the affected person remains at home, isolated, following the protocol established for these cases. The protocol also requires the identification of close contacts of people with the virus and the implementation of related precautions. This is the first case diagnosed in La Rioja when across Spain there are already around 3,000, with the Community of Madrid being the region with the most cases.

Our country is at the forefront of positive cases of monkeypox around the world. They were followed by England and Germany. A total of 10,064 cases were recorded across the European Union. According to a report by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the majority of patients diagnosed with monkeypox are male (99.5%) and most are between 31 and 40 years old. The most common symptoms of the disease include a skin rash that starts on the face and spreads to other parts of the body, fever, fatigue, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, and headache.

In some parts of Spain there is already talk of imminent vaccinations. In fact, the Secretary of Public Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Carmen Cabezas, explained on Wednesday that they will start vaccinating monkeypox for people in priority groups on Thursday and will start contacting them for appointments this Wednesday.

First case in England

On May 7, the first case of monkeypox was recorded in the UK. But after this first British patient, the virus spread rapidly to other countries, notably Spain and Portugal. In our country, two of the first and most important sources of infection occurred at a party in Gran Canaria and in a sauna in Madrid, which was closed, therefore most of the cases detected at that time were found in the gay community.

First case of monkey vaccine

This virus, which is a low-transmission pathology, caused the Ministry of Health to activate a health alert. On May 25, the Ministry and the autonomous community met at the Interregional Health Council to assess the impact of the virus. As of this Friday, in La Rioja no cases have been detected, but La Rioja’s health system is already in place.

As explained by Dr. José Antonio Oteo, Head of Infectious Diseases at CIBIR in an interview with Diario La Rioja, despite the fact that this virus, in general, does not cause serious illness, San Pedro Hospital already has the space to isolate patients who need it. And health professionals are warned.

This virus is an old acquaintance of the scientific community. “This is not a new virus like the coronavirus; throughout history there have been small outbreaks of monkeypox, ”recalls the doctor. “What hasn’t happened so far is such a widespread outbreak, affecting multiple countries with no clearly defined chain of transmission.”

How to act?

The important thing is not to go to the Puskesmas or the ER. As pointed out by Dr. Oteo, as with all infectious diseases, we must notify the Health Center or Emergency Unit by telephone and alert the health professional that we have symptoms consistent with monkeypox.

If someone is infected, it is important that they self-isolate and wear a surgical mask. Lesions on the surface of his body must be covered because the patient is contagious until all the scabs are removed. Despite the recommendations that sound so familiar to us after two years of the pandemic, Dr. Oteo warns that the situation isn’t even the same. “The smallpox vaccine is very effective in protecting against other viruses of the same family,” he said. That is why the dose given to those born before 1977 protects 85% of the vaccinated population.

Symptoms of monkey pox

The new disease, called monkeypox, originated in West Africa and has symptoms similar to chickenpox and secondary syphilis. It spreads through fluids and the initial symptoms are similar to those of regular smallpox, although they are milder. They include pustules, fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and fatigue.

Infected animals, usually rodents, transmit it to humans through their bites or feces. Between humans, transmission is produced by fluids, saliva, respiratory excretions, by contact with lesional exudate or scab material or also by feces mixed with food, for example.