Italian monkeypox cases up 18 to 662

ROME. KAZINFORM - Italian monkeypox cases have risen by 18 since Friday to 662, the health ministry said Tuesday, ANSA reports.

Cases linked to trips abroad are 185, the ministry said.

The cases involve some 652 men and just 10 women, reflecting the gender split around the world.

The average age of those infected is 37ю

The regions with the most cases are Lombardy with 291, up eight; and Lazio with 121, up three.

Here are the case figures in Italian regions: Abruzzo 2; Basilicata 0; Calabria 0; Campania 21; Emilia Romagna 70 (+1); Friuli Venezia Giulia 11; Lazio 121 (+3); Liguria 13; Lombardy 291 (+8); Marche 4; Molise 0; Piedmont 25; Puglia 14 (+1); Sardinia 4 (+1); Sicily 5 (+1); Tuscany 31 (+1); PA Bolzano 1; PA Trento 3; Umbria 0; Valle d'Aosta 0; Veneto 46 (+2)ю

Italy has started monkeypox vaccinations with the first jabs being given at Rome's Spallanzani Hospital last Monday followed by others in Bologna and the rest of Emilia-Romagna starting last Tuesday.

The other two priority regions, Lombardy and Veneto, began giving out doses of the vaccine later last week.

On July 23 the World Health Organization said monkeypox was a «global health emergency».

The vaccination campaign is not a mass effort like the COVID-19 one but is instead directed at persons at greatest risk of infection such as gays, transgender, bisexuals and other men who have sex with men, as well as lab staff with possible exposure to the orthopoxvirus.

The Spallanzani is Italy's premier infectious disease hospital and treated the first coronavirus patients in early 2020.

Photo: ansa.it