MADRID

With one of Europe’s largest gay pride celebrations right around the corner, Spain’s LGBTQ community is worried that the outbreaks of monkeypox on the continent could lead to an increase in homophobic sentiment based on misunderstandings of the disease.

Spanish health authorities said Thursday that there were now 84 confirmed cases in the country, the highest number in Europe. The tally includes one woman, the region of Madrid said in a statement on Friday without providing any further details.

Health authorities have been centering their investigations on links between a Gay Pride event in the Canary Islands that drew some 80,000 people at the beginning of May, and cases linked to a Madrid sauna.

But some people, particularly gay and bisexual men, believe there is a touch of homophobic hysteria in the wider public’s reaction to the rare outbreak of the disease outside of Africa, where it has long been endemic.

Most of the known cases in Europe have been among men who have sex with men, according to authorities in Britain, Spain, Germany and Portugal. A top adviser to the World Health Organization said the outbreak was likely triggered by sexual activity at two recent mass events in Europe.