As monkeypox spreads, health experts urge public to get vaccinated

BALTIMORE -- The World Health Organization declared that the increasing spread of mpox in Africa, also known as monkeypox, is a global health emergency.  Doctors are warning that the virus might ultimately spill across international borders. 

More than a dozen African nations have seen confirmed cases of mpox this year, leading officials to declare a worldwide health emergency. 

The Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing the largest outbreak by far. 

"There is the chance, and that chance happened, that this would resurge and spiral out of control. So, in certain countries, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, it has become out of control," Amesh Adalja, Johns Hopkins infectious disease physician said. 

In 2022, the decades-old virus triggered outbreaks in more than 70 countries including here in the U.S., causing symptoms like fever, chills, body aches, and lesions.  

Mpox is mostly spread through skin-to-skin contact. Doctors say vaccination is the best way to prevent illness  

"During the prior outbreak of mpox in the United States, only about 25% of the at-risk population was vaccinated. So there's still many people who need to get vaccinated that are in that risk group and maybe many people also who only got one dose and need to get that second dose," Adalja said.  

Risk to the general public is considered "very low" though officials do expect sporadic imported cases to continue. 

"The goal here is not so much to raise awareness or worry people in the United States. But it's to make sure that there's coordination and collaboration in Africa to get resources like the vaccine to that area of the world," Adalja explained. 

Treatments or vaccines are not readily available in Africa.