Monkeypox: what are the symptoms and should Australia be worried?

A team from the Center of Disease Control researches the monkeypox virus in Republic of Congo in 2017. Cases are on the rise in the UK but experts say Australians should not be worried. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

On 13 May, the World Health Organization was notified of two confirmed cases and one probable case of monkeypox in the UK. The number of cases has now risen to nine.

This has raised some alarm, because historically only eight cases have been detected in the UK, the first of those in 2018.