Several cases of monkeypox have been identified in countries around the world where the disease is not usually present—and now a dashboard is helping to track the current outbreak.
The dashboard, which was created by Italian management engineer Antonio Caramia, who has also created a similar site for COVID-19, shows the total number of confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox around the world, as well as other data, such as hospitalizations.
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by a virus that is mainly present in the tropical rainforests of Central and West Africa, although some cases are occasionally identified outside this area—usually involving people who have traveled to the region.
The disease typically begins with flu-like symptoms, with other signs including rashes and swollen lymph nodes—although the disease can cause a host of medical complications.
Symptoms tend to last between two and four weeks, with the disease usually resolving on its own—there are no specific, widely available anti-viral treatments to combat the virus.
The monkeypox virus comes in two main forms: the West African clade and the Central African clade. Both of these have the potential to cause severe illness, but the case fatality rate for the former is thought to be around 1 percent, whereas for the latter it could be as high as 10 percent, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus is not transmitted easily and requires close contact with an infected person or animal, or material that is contaminated with the virus.
According to the latest available data on the dashboard, there have been a total of 110 confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox outside of the endemic regions. Thirty-nine of these have been confirmed, while another 71 are suspected.
The majority of these non-endemic cases have been identified in Europe, making it the largest outbreak of the disease ever seen on the continent.
Most of the confirmed cases have been identified in Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, which have reported 14, seven and nine respectively. Portugal and Spain also have more than 40 further suspected cases between them. Other confirmed cases have also been identified in Italy, Belgium Sweden, Germany and France.
Outside of Europe, monkeypox cases have also recently been reported in the United States and Canada, which have confirmed one and two respectively, as well as in Australia. According to the tracker, a further 20 suspected cases have been reported in Canada.
It is currently not know if the cases are linked and it is not clear how the individuals in question were exposed to the virus. Researchers are currently trying to understand more about the recent cluster of infections and how they occurred.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aristos is a Newsweek science reporter with the London, U.K., bureau. He reports on science and health topics, including; animal, ... Read more
