The Spanish authorities are investigating the assumption that a party on the holiday island of Gran Canaria could have been another source of infection for monkeypox.
The newspaper "El País" reported on Saturday, citing sources in the health sector.
From May 5th to 15th, around 80,000 people from Spain and many other countries took part in the "Maspalomas Pride", one of the most important events in the calendar of the gay community.
According to "El País", several of the positive cases diagnosed in Madrid in the last few days were at the event.
It is unclear whether they got infected at the party or whether patient zero of the outbreak was among them.
"El País" writes that the infected are "two or three" young Italian men whose infection was confirmed in Rome.
There are also a few people from Madrid, as well as a case being investigated on the island itself.
So far, 30 cases of monkeypox have been detected in Spain.
The outbreak on the "Maspalomas Pride" is the second major outbreak in recent days.
The first outbreak was recorded at the Paraiso sauna in Madrid's Malasaña district, which was closed by the regional health ministry on Friday.
Regional councilor Enrique Ruiz Escudero linked the facility to “most” of the cases registered in the region.
Infections with the monkeypox virus are being reported from more and more countries.
Fever, severe headache, back pain, sore throat, cough, and often also swelling of the lymph nodes are possible symptoms.
A rash that spreads from the face to the body is also typical.
Blindness and disfiguring scars rarely occur as permanent damage.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, the virus usually spreads in rodents and from there it is transmitted to humans.
Human infections are most likely to occur through close physical contact or through so-called smear infections.