The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has raised its monkeypox virus guidance, urging all individuals to take extra precautions as the number of global cases eclipses 1,000 in nearly thirty countries.

The United Kingdom has recorded the most cases with 302 suspected and confirmed infections, followed by Spain with 198, Portugal 153, and Canada with eighty.

Here in the United States, per Fox News, CDC data show that there are now thirty-five confirmed cases of monkeypox. New York has seen eight cases, California seven cases, Florida four, Colorado two, and Illinois and Utah each with two. Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia have all reported one case each.

According to CNBC, the heightened CDC alert to level two is encouraging people to avoid close contact with sick people as well as sick or dead animals. It is also urging individuals who are displaying symptoms like unexplained skin rash or lesions to avoid contact with others. They should reach out to their healthcare providers immediately.

The recent surge in monkeypox cases is highly unusual since they occur in North American and European countries where the virus is not endemic. Monkeypox is usually found in Central and West African rainforests, where animals that carry the virus live. Animal hosts can include a range of rodents and non-human primates.

Professor Eyal Leshem, an infectious disease specialist at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, told CNBC that nonendemic countries should expect the virus to spread due to the frequency and ease of international travel and increased interactions between humans and animals.

“Diseases that were locally spread are now able to make their way across countries and continents much more easily,” he said. “Meanwhile, interaction between humans and animals has also amplified. Climate change has forced some animals into closer contact with humans, you will see more of these types of diseases.”

According to the World Health Organization, monkeypox is a viral illness that starts with flu-like symptoms and the swelling of lymph nodes, eventually progressing to rashes on the face, hands, feet, eyes, mouth, or genitals that turn into raised bumps which then become blisters. Open contact with the sores of an infected individual spreads the virus most easily. However, it can also spread through contact with materials that have the virus on them, such as shared bedding and clothing. 

WHO officials have stated that the virus itself is not a sexually transmitted infection, but the recent outbreak appears connected to men who have sex with other men. They also emphasized that anyone—regardless of sexual orientation—can contract the disease.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.