Spain reported that on Saturday, July 30, a second monkey pox death had been reported. These are believed to be the first confirmed fatalities from the disease in Europe since its recent spread beyond Africa. The ministry based in Madrid said both were young men. The global monkeypox outbreak has seen more than 22,000 cases in nearly 80 countries since May. Most cases happen in Africa, mostly in Nigeria and Congo.

“The notification of deaths due to monkeypox does not change our assessment of the outbreak in Europe. We know that although the disease is self-limiting in most cases, monkeypox can cause severe complications,” said Catherine Smallwood, Senior Emergency Officer at WHO Europe. “With the continued spread of monkeypox in Europe, we will expect to see more deaths. Our goal needs to be on interrupting transmission quickly in Europe and stopping this outbreak,” she said. Spanish health authorities are administering 5,300 vaccines that Spain received from the joint EU vaccine purchase scheme. Health workers say that’s far fewer than the number needed to cover the at-risk groups. But the rush to buy limited vaccines by richer Western countries is putting Africa in danger of being left out and Africa has a lot of cases too.