On July 23rd, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox an international public health emergency. BUT...
What is monkeypox? What are the symptoms? How concerned should Americans be?
Monkeypox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox. Despite popular misconceptions, there is no correlation between monkeypox and chickenpox.
Like other viral infections, monkeypox spreads via close contact with respiratory droplets, bodily fluids, blood, or lesions of infected persons or animals. The virus can also persist on surfaces and materials.