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Monkeypox: 81 cases now recorded in Denmark

A total of 82 cases of monkeypox have so far been recorded in Denmark, included a number not traceable to travel abroad.

Monkeypox: 81 cases now recorded in Denmark
SSI director Henrik Ullum said the Danish public can remain calm over monkeypox despite the country's total number of cases increasing to 81. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Cases of monkeypox recently detected in Denmark are not all related to travel abroad, as has previously been the case, the director of the national infectious disease control agency State Serum Institute (SSI), Henrik Ullum, told broadcaster DR on Friday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) last week declared the monkeypox outbreak, which has affected nearly 16,000 people in 72 countries, to be a global health emergency — the highest alarm it can sound.

A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

The virus is spreading in Denmark and being monitored by Danish health authorities, SSI said.

“More and more cases are not travel related but due to infection internally in Denmark,” Ullum said to DR.

“When monkeypox first came to Denmark at the end of May, we saw very few cases each week and they were all related to travel,” he said.

Of the 81 total cases detected, 18 were registered in the last week, a “clear increase” according to Ullum.

“We must therefore, like the WHO, say that containment is not going very well,” he said.

The SSI director however said the general public need not be excessively concerned about the disease, which is far less infectious than Covid-19.

“As a population, we must keep calm, because the disease is in most cases mild and can be treated at home,” he said.

The monkeypox virus is in the same family of viruses as chickenpox but is not highly contagious.

A relatively high proportion of the detected cases have been among men who have sex with men, but this group is not at higher risk from the disease than other persons who have close physical contact to a person who is infected with monkeypox and is displaying symptoms, according to the Danish Health Authority.

Ullum nevertheless asked that people within this group be “aware that you can become infected and expose others to infection”.

Danish company Bavarian Nordic, the lone laboratory manufacturing a licensed vaccine against monkeypox, said in July that an “undisclosed European country” had ordered 1.5 million doses.

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HEALTH

Denmark registers first 2024 case of tick-borne encephalitis

This year’s first Danish case of tick-borne encephalitis has been registered in northern Zealand, the national infectious disease agency State Serum Institute (SSI) confirmed.

Denmark registers first 2024 case of tick-borne encephalitis

Although the disease is very rare in Denmark, there are usually a handful of cases each year. The forested area around Tisvilde Hegn and elsewhere in northern Zealand are particular risk zones along with parts of Bornholm.

“Infection is usually linked to spending time in risk areas, and typically going off the paths, Peter H.S. Andersen, doctor and head of department at SSI, said in a statement.

“But there have also been cases of TBE where the patient has not demonstrated known risk behaviour by going into in woods or thickets,” he added.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about ticks in Denmark and how to avoid them

Earlier this year, it was reported that people in Copenhagen and surrounding areas of Zealand have increasingly sought vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) after an increase in ticks in parts of the countryside.

The risk of TBE remains small but case numbers have increased slightly in recent years. Some 11 cases were registered in 2023 compared with around 1 or 2 annually a decade ago.

Ticks (skovflåter) can be found all over Denmark in forests, meadows, and long grass. They are particularly active during the summer months and increase in number if the weather has been warm and humid.

In Denmark, the most common disease ticks transmit is Lyme disease, but ticks can also carry the very rare but dangerous TBE.

Only people who spend extended time in forests near Tisvilde Hegn as well as on the island of Bornholm should consider vaccination, SSI experts have previously said.

TBE is a viral brain infection caused by a particular tick bite. Flu-like symptoms can occur a week or more after the bite and can develop to include nausea, dizziness, and in around a third of cases, severe long-term problems or permanent neurological damage.

Denmark’s tick season last from spring until autumn.

In contrast to Lyme disease, the TBE virus infects its target quickly after the tick bite.

“That’s why it’s important to remove a tick as soon as you find it. Either with your fingers, a tweezer or a special tick remover,” Andersen said.

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