The first suspected case of monkeypox in the Valencian Community corresponds to an elite athlete who plays for the Playas de Castellón professional team. The athlete, born in Burundi and only twenty-two years old, traveled to his native country and later moved to the capital of Castellón to prepare for his next international commitments.
The Ministry of Universal Health and Public Health keeps this case in the study phase, waiting to know the results of the analyzes derived from the National Center for Microbiology. At the moment, the African athlete is isolated in the General Hospital of Castellón, while his teammates await confirmation of the positive or negative for monkeypox.
The athlete was admitted to the Castellón hospital with symptoms compatible with the zoonotic infection called Moneypox, although it is not yet confirmed if it is this disease. In fact, the young man hopes to be discharged this Wednesday, although at the moment he follows the isolation recommendations dictated by the protocol of the Ministry of Health.
Apart from this case, the Generalitat detected another possible contagion of monkeypox, in this case not imported. In the rest of the national territory, 37 positives have already been confirmed and another thirty are still waiting for the results analyzed at the National Center for Microbiology.
According to the definition of the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine, it is an endemic zoonosis of Central and West Africa that circulates through unknown hosts, probably rodents, which can cause outbreaks in monkeys and to a lesser extent in humans.
The incubation period ranges from five to twenty-one days, while transmission generally occurs through contact with an infected animal, person, and material, as well as through respiratory droplets during face-to-face and prolonged contact.
The main symptoms of monkeypox are the following: fever, chills, headache, myalgia and asthenia. Additionally, three days after the onset of fever, the patient develops a rash, which tends to appear first on the face and then spread to other parts of the body, including the hands and feet.
