Multi-country monkeypox outbreak in non-endemic countries: World Health Organization Update
May 29, 2022 | Since 13 May 2022, monkeypox has been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from 23 Member States that are not endemic for monkeypox virus, across four WHO regions. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. It is caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family. The name monkeypox originates from the initial discovery of the virus in monkeys in Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen Denmark, in 1958. The first human case was identified in a young child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970.