Scientists warned us about monkeypox in 1988. Here's why they were right.

Smallpox vaccines being administered in Paris in 1941. When the disease was eradicated and vaccination came to a stop, that created an opening for its virus relative monkeypox. (Roger Viollet via Getty Images)

Back in 1988, scientists in London almost seem to have had a crystal ball.

Writing in the International Journal of Epidemiology, they made a bold – and surprisingly prescient – prediction about monkeypox: Over time, "the average magnitude and duration of monkeypox epidemics will increase," they wrote.