According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the monkeypox virus has spread to more than 20 countries, with over 200 confirmed cases and over 100 suspected cases in regions where it is not normally seen.
Monkeypox is a virus that spreads from wild animals such as rats and primates to humans on rare occasions. It is related to smallpox and belongs to the same virus family, according to WHO.
The majority of human infections have occurred in Central and West Africa, with outbreaks being very rare.
Scientists discovered the sickness in 1958 after two outbreaks of a "pox-like" disease in laboratory monkeys — hence the term monkeypox. In 1970, a little boy in a rural section of Congo became the first known human infection.
Thousands of monkeypox infections are estimated to occur each year in approximately a dozen of African nations, according to the World Health Organization. The majority of cases are reported in Congo, which has around 6,000 cases per year, and Nigeria, which has about 3,000 cases per year.
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