550 Monkeypox Cases In At Least 30 Countries Outside Africa: WHO

London: As cases of monkeypox in wealthier Western nations spark a flurry of scientific research to combat the outbreak, scientists are urging the world to make sure lower-income nations benefit from the fruits of that labor as well.
More than 550 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported by at least 30 countries outside of Africa, where the virus is typically found, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Scientists are flummoxed as to what is driving the current crop of cases - mostly identified in Europe so far - given they are predominantly not linked to travel to Africa.
Countries in Africa have experienced sporadic monkeypox outbreaks since the virus was first discovered in humans in 1970.

In Nigeria, there has been an ongoing outbreak since 2017, which so far has resulted in 600 suspected and nearly 250 confirmed cases, Ifedayo Adetifa, the director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said at a monkeypox briefing convened by the WHO on Thursday.