Biden: Everybody should be concerned about monkeypox outbreak
Monkeypox has caught the attention of US President Joe Biden, who said Sunday that people should be on guard against the disease which has the potential for a "consequential" impact if it were to spread further.
- World
- Agencies and A News
- Published Date: 10:36 | 22 May 2022
- Modified Date: 04:39 | 22 May 2022
The monkeypox outbreak is something "everybody should be concerned about," U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday, adding that U.S. health officials are looking into possible treatments and vaccines.
"We're working on it hard to figure out what we do," Biden told reporters at an airbase in South Korea before departing on Air Force One for Japan.
There have been thousands of human infections in parts of Central and Western Africa in recent years but it is rare in Europe and North America.
Most people recover within several weeks and monkeypox has only been fatal in rare cases.
The World Health Organization said that as of Saturday there were 92 confirmed cases of the disease in countries where monkeypox is not endemic.
The virus is transmitted to humans from animals, with symptoms very similar to smallpox but less severe clinically.