Hundreds more monkeypox cases have been reported outside of the African countries where the disease is generally found, according to the World Health Organization, which warns that the virus is likely spreading under the radar.
More than 550 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in 30 countries outside of the west and central African countries where it is endemic since Britain first reported a confirmed case on May 7, according to the WHO.
"Investigations are ongoing, but the sudden appearance of monkeypox in many countries at the same time suggests there may have been undetected transmission for some time," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
The emergence of so many cases over most of Europe and other countries where it has not been seen previously, according to the UN health agency's senior monkeypox expert Rosamund Lewis, "is clearly a cause for concern, and it does suggest undetected transmission for a while"
"We don't know if it is weeks, months or possibly a couple for years," she said, adding that "we don't really know if it is too late to contain".
Monkeypox is related to smallpox, a disease that killed millions of people each year before being eradicated in 1980.
Monkeypox, on the other hand, is far less severe and spreads by intimate contact, with symptoms including a high fever and a blistery chickenpox-like rash that clears up after a few weeks.
Although there is no proof that monkeypox is transmitted sexually, the majority of cases have been documented among men who have sex with other men.
Tedros asked everyone to help "fight stigma, which is not just wrong, it could also prevent infected individuals from seeking care, making it harder to stop transmission"
He also stated that the WHO was "urging affected countries to widen their surveillance"
Lewis stressed that "we collectively all work together to prevent onward spread" of the disease through contact tracking and isolation of those infected.
Vaccines produced for smallpox have been found to be approximately 85% effective in preventing monkeypox, although they are in short supply.
WHO does not promote mass vaccination, but rather targeted use in specific circumstances to safeguard health professionals and those most vulnerable to infection.
The fatality rate for monkeypox is typically low, and no deaths have been documented among cases discovered outside of endemic nations thus far.
However, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's expert on emerging diseases, cautioned that while no deaths had been reported, this may change if the virus spread to more vulnerable people.
