In recent years, the disease has been fatal in up to 6% of infections, but no deaths have been reported among the current cases. Vaccines against smallpox, a related disease, are also effective in preventing monkeypox and some antiviral drugs are being developed. Most people recover from the disease within several weeks without requiring hospitalization. It can be spread through close contact with an infected person or their clothing or bedsheets, but sexual transmission has not yet been documented. Monkeypox typically causes fever, chills, rash, and lesions on the face or genitals.

Heymann chaired an urgent meeting of WHO’s advisory group on infectious disease threats on Friday to assess the ongoing epidemic and said there was no evidence to suggest that monkeypox might have mutated into a more infectious form.