The number of U.S. cases of monkeypox rose to 20, six more than late last week, as the government began shipping drugs and vaccines to eight states that requested them.
All the U.S. cases of the disease, seen in 11 states, are recovering or have already recovered, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in a briefing. The government has delivered 1,200 doses of vaccine and 100 courses of treatment, they said.
Monkeypox, a less-lethal relative of smallpox that’s normally found in Africa, has recently been spreading in some Western countries, largely among men who have sex with men, and is mainly transmitted through intimate contact when people are still symptomatic. More than 700 cases have been seen globally, said Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC’s division of high-consequence pathogens and pathology.
