jennifer kerns.ir first deaths from monkeypox — the first known fatalities outside the african continent. spain is one of the worst—hit countries — around a quarter of the roughly 20,000 global infections were diagnosed there. i've been speaking to professor ann rimoin. she's an american infectious disease epidemiologist whose research focuses on emerging infectious diseases, particularly those that are crossing species from animal to humans. monkeypox is a serious disease. while it may not carry the same kind of fatality rates that we think about with other viruses, this one can be very serious, and particularly in immunocompromised individuals. the deaths that you were speaking of were, in fact, in people who had issues with their immune system, and so, monkeypox was definitely a contributor here, but it was because they were already immunocompromised. there are various challenges, though, here, aren't there — not least vaccine supply and, i suppose, disease fatigue, if i can put it that way, follo