Why is monkeypox in the news?  

Health officials are worried about the rise in monkeypox cases around the world. There is fear that the number of cases, more common in western and central Africa, will continue to accelerate. 

The World Health Organization has said it expects cases to continue to grow in countries where the virus is not endemic and that it will be expanding its surveillance.

It added that it would be providing further guidance and recommendations in the coming days for how countries can treat monkeypox. 

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What is monkeypox? 

Monkeypox is a viral disease, usually spread by touching or getting bitten by infected wild animals. Although it was first identified (and thus named) in laboratory monkeys in 1958, they are not a natural reservoir of the virus, which is usually passed on by rodents like rats or squirrels, or via the consumption of bushmeat. It is most common in western and central Africa.

The disease does not typically spread easily between people, but British health officials say it's possible if there was extremely close contact with an infected person. 

The early symptoms of monkeypox include fever, muscle ache, chills and fatigue. In more severe cases, a rash can often develop on the face and genitals, which resembles those seen in chickenpox and smallpox.  

It is related to smallpox but is usually milder, particularly the West African strain of the virus identified in a U.S. case, which has a fatality rate of around 1 percent. Most people fully recover in two to four weeks, the official said.

The virus is not as quickly transmitted as the SARS-CoV-2 virus that spurred the global COVID-19 pandemic.

"COVID-19 is spread by respiratory route and is highly infectious. This doesn't appear to be the case with the monkeypox," said Massachusetts General Hospital doctor Martin Hirsch.

"What seems to be happening now is that it has got into the population as a sexual form, as a genital form, and is being spread as are sexually transmitted infections, which has amplified its transmission around the world," WHO official David Heymann, an infectious disease specialist, said.

Is monkeypox contagious? 

Transmission of monkeypox occurs when a person comes into contact with the virus from animals, humans, or materials contaminated. The virus enters the body through broken skin (even if not visible), the respiratory tract or mucous membranes (eyes, nose or mouth). 

In recent years, there have been thousands of human infections in parts of Central and Western Africa, but it is rare in Europe and North America.

British authorities said that due to the recent spike in cases and the uncertainty about how monkeypox was being transmitted, they were working with hospitals and international partners to see if there had been a similar rise in cases elsewhere.  

Public health experts said doctors who treat patients who develop rashes "without a clear alternative diagnosis" should seek specialist advice. 

They said the risk to the general population was low and that infected patients were receiving specialist care in London and Newcastle. Officials are tracing those who had contact with the monkeypox cases, including airplane passengers.

Is it treatable?  

Currently, there is no proven treatment for monkeypox. In the U.S., monkeypox outbreaks have been controlled using the smallpox vaccine and antivirals.  

The UK has begun to inoculate healthcare workers who may be at risk while caring for patients with the smallpox vaccine, which can also protect against monkeypox. The U.S. government says it has enough smallpox vaccine stored in its Strategic National Stockpile to vaccinate the entire U.S. population.

Antiviral drugs for smallpox could also be used to treat monkeypox under certain circumstances, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

More broadly, health officials say that people should avoid close personal contact with someone who has a rash illness or who is otherwise unwell. People who suspect they have monkeypox should isolate and seek medical care.

Where is it normally found?

Human monkeypox was first identified in 1970 in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a nine-year-old boy in a region where smallpox had been eliminated two years earlier.

Since 1970, human cases of monkeypox have been reported in 11 African countries – Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan, according to WHO.

In the spring of 2003, cases were also confirmed in the United States – the first time the disease had surfaced outside Africa.

The recent outbreaks reported so far are atypical, according to the WHO, as they are occurring in countries where the virus does not regularly circulate. Scientists are seeking to understand the origin of the current cases and whether anything about the virus has changed.

What are experts saying?

WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said, "as we enter the summer season... with mass gatherings, festivals, and parties, I am concerned that transmission could accelerate."

Over recent weeks cases have been detected in European countries including Portugal and Sweden and the U.S, Canada, and Australia, Kluge said, calling the spread "atypical."

"All but one of the recent cases have no relevant travel history to areas where monkeypox is endemic," he added.

Britain is seeing daily infections of the rare monkeypox virus that are unconnected to any travel to West Africa, where the disease is endemic, a health official said.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said new figures would be released in the coming days. Asked if community transmission was now the norm in Britain, UKHSA chief medical adviser Susan Hopkins said "absolutely".

"We are finding cases that have no identified contact with an individual from West Africa, which is what we've seen previously in this country," she told BBC television. "We are detecting more cases on a daily basis."

She said she expected "this increase to continue in the coming days and for more cases to be identified in the wider community."

She particularly urged gay and bisexual men to look out for symptoms, saying a "notable proportion" of cases in the UK and Europe came from this group.