Brits Traveling to Spain Receive 'High Alert' Warning About Deadly New Touch-Transmissible Disease - OK! Magazine

Spain is on high alert as Madrid's Barajas Airport braces for tough measures to avert an mpox outbreak. With experts warning of a spike in cases and EU countries on tenterhooks following the emergence of a new, concerning Mpox variant, Madrid's health and environmental chiefs are pressing the Government for intensified checks at the airport.

This could mean rigorous health screenings or vigilant monitoring of passengers from African nations hit hardest by the disease and those who have been in contact with infected individuals.

Carlos Novillo, Madrid's environment sector leader, has urged the Ministry of Health to 'take preventive measures, especially in Barajas, an important airport that registers a large flow of travellers daily instead of just being reactive'.

The WHO's recent figures show that this year, approximately 13 countries in the Americas have reported infections from various mpox strains. John Claude Udahemuka, a University of Rwanda lecturer and medical response expert, has sounded the alarm: 'It's undoubtedly the most dangerous of all the known strains of mpox, considering how it is transmitted, how it is spread, and also the symptoms.'

He has called for global vigilance against the virus's spread. 'Everyone should get prepared. Everyone should be able to detect the disease as early as possible. But more important, everyone should support the local research and local response so that it doesn't spread,' reports the Mirror.

A second individual has been confirmed to have contracted the deadly new mpox strain outside of Africa, leading the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare it a 'public health emergency'. The disease, formerly known as monkeypox, has seen an alarming increase in cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other African nations, causing global concern.

This week, the WHO classified it as a public health emergency of international concern - a classification previously used for Covid-19 and Ebola outbreaks.

While no cases of this new strain of mpox sweeping across Africa have been reported in the UK, a second case has now been discovered elsewhere. A man in Thailand tested positive this week, following an earlier diagnosis in Sweden.

Thailand's director-general of the Department of Disease Control, Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, reportedly stated that the patient was 'infected with the Clade 1b strain of monkeypox'.

Mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus. It can lead to flu-like symptoms including fever, muscle aches, and a skin rash or pus-filled lesions that can last two to four weeks.