Tattoo artists spread monkey pox – Svenska Magasinit
A tattoo parlor in San Fernando, 10 kilometers outside Cadiz, is linked to the outbreak with at least a dozen people infected. The salon that does tattoos, micropigmentation and piercings has been checked and closed by the authorities. The outbreak was reported to the epidemiological surveillance system in Andalusia and investigation is in full swing.
The Spanish health authorities remind “the importance that tattoos and piercings are carried out correctly, so that they do not pose risks to the health of the users or the workers themselves”.
Spain is the country in Europe with the most reported cases with around 3,500 cases and the number is rising. But the infection is spreading all over the world and it is expected that Spain will soon overtake more countries, particularly the United States.
international emergency
On Saturday, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox an international health emergency. They have asked states to establish protocols for conducting diagnostic tests and to prepare facilities to isolate suspected cases. And that there is intensive vaccination of patients or those who are likely to be infected with the prevention of human vaccine. However, this is still only produced by the Danish North Bavarian laboratory and in small quantities.
The World Health Organization has also stated that sick people and their closest contacts should not travel, so that the virus does not spread further. The emergency declaration gives the WHO the power to make recommendations that countries must follow, even if ultimately it is each government that decides what it should do or what specific measures it should take.
WHO experts were divided on raising the alert level for monkeypox to the highest level, but agency director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus decided to support declaring an international emergency.
Spreading virus
Monkeypox is a viral disease that originates in Africa as it was discovered as early as 1958 in monkeys, but the disease has not yet spread widely. 95 percent of sufferers so far are gay men, but the spread of tattoos by artists could of course expand this quickly to more groups.
The majority of those infected have only mild or moderate symptoms with fever, nausea, fatigue, and characteristic blisters on the skin. But deaths do occur, so far only five deaths have been recorded, all in West Africa and the patient usually recovers after two to four weeks.
