The symptoms generated by monkeypox 1:33
(CNN) --
The so-called "monkeypox" or "monkeypox" has set off alarm bells in Europe and the United States.
Next, we explain what it is, what its symptoms are, how it spreads and in which countries cases have been reported so far.
The natural reservoir of monkeypox is currently unknown.
However, African rodents and primates such as monkeys can harbor the virus and infect people.
They investigate a case of monkeypox in the US 0:39
The monkeypox virus has been reported mostly from Central and West Africa and is a rare but dangerous infection similar to the now-eradicated smallpox virus.
According to the World Health Organization, monkeypox continues to appear sporadically.
This is everything you need to know about monkeypox:
Smallpox: contagious and deadly.
What you should know
What are your symptoms?
Monkeypox usually has milder symptoms than smallpox.
According to the CDC, the disease begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, chills, swollen lymph nodes — a symptom that smallpox does not have — and exhaustion.
Up to three days after you have a fever, you may develop a rash on your face and body that progresses to crusty skin lesions.
The incubation period—that is, the time from when a person is infected until they have symptoms—for monkeypox is usually 7 to 14 days, but can range from 5 to 21 days, the CDC reports.
The illness usually lasts between 2 and 4 weeks.
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People who may have symptoms of monkeypox, and those who have close contact with them, should contact their doctor if they have any unusual rashes or lesions, the CDC says.
“The infection can spread when someone is in close contact with an infected person;
however, there is a very low risk of transmission to the general population,” reads a statement from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
According to the WHO, the fatality rate has varied during the different epidemics, but has been less than 10% in the documented events.
How is monkeypox spread?
According to the WHO, in initial cases the monkeypox virus is transmitted through direct contact with blood, body fluids, skin lesions or mucous membranes of animals that have been contaminated with the virus.
For its part, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explain that the virus enters the body through skin wounds, even if they are not visible, from the respiratory tract or mucous membranes, such as the eyes, nose or mouth.
When it comes to human-to-human transmission, the CDC notes that it can occur when:
A bite or scratch occurs
By improperly cooking meat from infected animals
In direct contact with body fluids or indirect contact with injured material
Through contaminated bedding
The WHO indicates that transmission occurs mainly by respiratory droplets after prolonged face-to-face contact with a person who has contracted the virus, "which exposes family members of active cases to a higher risk of infection."
The infection can also be transmitted by inoculation or across the placenta.
However, the WHO indicates that to date it has not been shown "that person-to-person transmission alone can sustain monkeypox virus infection in humans."
It can also spread from person to person through respiratory droplets, usually in a closed environment, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Is there a vaccine?
There is currently no treatment or vaccine for monkeypox virus infection.
The WHO points out that the outbreaks can be controlled since the smallpox vaccine has shown an efficacy of 85% in preventing monkeypox.
However, following the global eradication of smallpox in 1980, production of the vaccine was discontinued and it is no longer accessible to the public.
"However, previous smallpox vaccination may contribute to a milder course of the disease," he added.
In the absence of a treatment or vaccine to treat monkeypox, the WHO states that the only way to reduce infections is to educate the population about what the risk factors are and how to reduce exposure.
For example, reducing the risk of transmission from animals to people by avoiding any contact with rodents and primates in endemic regions and limiting direct exposure to blood and meat, and their thorough cooking.
In the case of person-to-person transmission, the WHO indicates that it is necessary to avoid contact with people infected with the virus, so the isolation of patients at home or in health centers is recommended.
Suspected cases in the US, UK, Portugal and Spain
So far, cases of monkeypox have been detected in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal.
The CDC is collaborating with Massachusetts health officials on an investigation into a case of monkeypox, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.
The monkeypox case was confirmed in a man in Massachusetts who had recently traveled to Canada, state health officials announced earlier in the day.
Canadian health officials say no cases of monkeypox have been reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The CDC says it's also tracking multiple clusters of monkeypox that have been reported in the last two weeks in several countries that don't normally report this type of disease, including Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.
In the case of the United Kingdom, the disease was detected in a patient in England, according to the UKHSA, which also stated that "the patient has a recent travel history from Nigeria, which is where he is believed to have contracted the infection, before travel to the UK.
The patient is being treated in the specialist infectious disease and isolation unit at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London.
Since then, Reuters says in a report that six more cases have been reported in the country.
The first case was reported on May 7.
In addition, in Portugal, 5 patients with monkeypox were identified, of the 20 cases still suspected, according to Reuters, which also states that the Spanish health services are analyzing 23 possible cases and that eight cases are already being tested.
"It is not clear how people in these groups were exposed to monkeypox, but the cases include people who identify themselves as men who have sex with men," the CDC said in a news release.
The Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases of Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) states that it does not yet know what the epidemiological evolution of monkeypox will be.
With reporting from CNN's John Bonifield, Michael Nedelman and Martin Goillandeau.
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