Monkeypox: A rare virus on the rise

An image created during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), 1996 to 1997, shows the hands of a patient with a rash due to monkeypox, in this undated image obtained by Reuters on May 18, 2022.

The rare monkeypox virus, usually confined mostly to Central and West Africa, has spread in unusual ways this year and among populations that have not been vulnerable in the past.

But while the transmissions have created some alarm among officials and infectious disease experts, and while a Covid-19-weary world is on high alert for new outbreaks, there are several reasons monkeypox is not being treated with the same level of concern as the coronavirus.