SPAIN has recorded the highest number of monkeypox cases in Europe since the start of the current outbreak in April 2022.

A total of 8,101 cases have been reported- almost double that of the second-placed country, France.

This year has seen 260 confirmed cases with nearly half in the Madrid area and 90% of those affected were unvaccinated.

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16 infections have been reported between July 5 and August 5 by the Carlos III Institute.

Practically all of the cases(98%) are in males, aged between 6 and 68 years, although six out of ten were between 30 and 49 years old, bringing the average age to 37.

Three out of four presented general symptoms, such as fever (the most frequent), asthenia, sore throats, muscle pain or headache,

Rashes that developed were located in the anogenital area in 76.1% of cases.

Of the 213 out of 260 infections this year, 16.4% of people reported having had close contact with a probable or confirmed case.

The most likely form of transmission was sexual intercourse in 80% of monkeypox infections with the overwhelming number of cases involving gay or bi-sexual men.