欧洲和北美国家继续报告更多的猴痘但是专家表示，这种疾病到目前为止还没有对公众造成严重威胁。
在美国、英国、葡萄牙、瑞典和意大利等非流行地区，已确认至少有17例这种罕见疾病的感染，在这些国家以及加拿大和西班牙，数十例可能的病例正在调查中。
大多数病例发生在人们在该病毒流行的国家遇到受感染的动物时，典型的是非洲中部和西部，正如爆发的第一例病例所发生的那样，该病例于5月7日在英格兰报告，发生在一名最近去过尼日利亚的人身上。
然而，英国的其余八个病例都没有旅行史，也没有与去过尼日利亚的患者有过接触英国健康安全局，表明存在某种程度的社区传播。
同样，美国记录的第一例感染发生在来自马萨诸塞州的成年男性世卫组织最近曾前往加拿大，现在加拿大当局正在调查至少17例病例。
健康专家强调，公众面临的风险仍然很低，大多数人不需要立即害怕感染这种疾病。
“这是一种与新冠肺炎病毒完全不同的病毒，”波斯顿塔夫茨医疗中心的传染病医生和医院流行病学家Shira Doron博士告诉ABC新闻。“它主要生活在动物体内，所以它可能会意外感染人类，并可能导致零星疾病或相对较小的疫情。”
猴痘是一种由猴痘病毒引起的罕见疾病，1958年疾病控制和预防中心首次在用于研究的猴子身上发现了这种病毒。
首例人间病例于1970年在刚果民主共和国发现。
“重要的是要注意，这不是一种新病毒，”波士顿儿童医院的流行病学家、美国广播公司新闻撰稿人约翰·布朗斯坦博士说。“这已经存在很长时间了。它主要在西非部分地区流行，但你偶尔也会在世界其他地方看到它。”
人们通常通过被动物咬伤或抓伤，或者通过加工和食用受污染的野味而感染。
这种疾病也可以通过空气中的大型呼吸飞沫在人与人之间传播，但它们不能传播超过几英尺，因此两个人需要长时间的密切接触。
多伦说:“它通过不会传播很远的大飞沫传播，或通过接触病灶本身或接触床单或衣服的人或最近接触病灶的人传播。”“没有非常密切的亲密接触，你不会得到这种东西，这就是为什么它不会导致爆发。”
她补充说，这种传播途径不同于新冠肺炎，后者通过悬浮在空气中几分钟的小气溶胶传播。
多伦说:“悬浮微粒不受重力影响，但大水滴会被拉到地面上。”“此外，猴痘不是一种在无症状阶段传播的疾病，这正是COVID如此强大的原因。”
猴痘通常是一种轻微的疾病，最常见的症状是发烧、头痛、疲劳和肌肉疼痛。
患者可能会出现皮疹和损害，通常始于面部，然后扩散到身体其他部位。
“它开始是斑点，然后是像水痘一样的小水泡，然后是充满脓的水泡，然后结痂，”多伦解释说。“这是久病。它会持续几个星期，但你可能会传染几个星期，直到水泡结痂。”
美国广播公司新闻周四证实，疾病预防控制中心正在监测六名美国人，他们与那名在前往尼日利亚后检测呈阳性的英国患者同机。
疾病预防控制中心在一份声明中说:“在他们最后一次可能接触患病旅行者后，卫生官员将对他们进行为期21天的跟踪。”"这六个人都没有任何猴痘症状，患猴痘的风险非常低。"
卫生官员表示，美国或其他国家可能会出现更多病例，但美国人不必担心。
“我们会发现更多的病例，”布朗斯坦说。“现在公众意识提高了，显然会有更多的临床医生能够识别这些症状。”
他继续说道，“但是现在，没有任何迹象表明这将会产生和新冠肺炎一样的全球影响。对普通大众的风险很低。”
Monkeypox cases detected in US, Europe, but experts caution against comparing it to COVID-19
Countries in Europe and North America are continuing to report more cases ofmonkeypox, but experts say the disease so far does not pose a serious risk to the public.
At least 17 infections of the rare disease have been confirmed in non-endemic areas such as the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden and Italy, and dozens of possible cases are under investigation in those nations as well as in Canada and Spain.
Most cases occur when people encounter infected animals in countries where the virus is endemic -- typically central and western Africa as occurred with the outbreak's first case, reported in England on May 7 among a person who had recently traveled to Nigeria.
However, none of the remaining eight cases in the U.K had travel history and did not have contact with the patient who had visited Nigeria, according to theU.K. Health Security Agency, suggesting there is some level of community transmission.
Similarly, the first infection recorded in the U.S. was in anadult male from Massachusettswho had recently traveled to Canada, and now at least 17 cases are being investigated by Canadian authorities.
Health experts stress the risk to the public remains low and most people don't need to be immediately fearful of contracting the illness.
"It is a virus in a very different class from COVID-19," Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, told ABC News. "It predominantly lives in animal reservoirs so it sort of by accident gets to humans and it may cause sporadic illness or relatively small outbreaks."
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which was first identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1958 in monkeys being kept for research.
The first human case was detected in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"It's important to note this is not a new virus," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor. "This has been around for a long while. It's mostly endemic in parts of western Africa but you will occasionally see it in other parts of the world."
People are typically infected by animals through a bite or a scratch or through preparation and consumption of contaminated bush meat.
The disease can also spread from person-to-person via large respiratory droplets in the air, but they cannot travel more than a few feet so two people would need to have prolonged close contact.
"It transmits through large droplets, which don't travel very far, or through contact with lesions themselves or touching someone with bed linens or clothes or recent contact with lesions," Doron said. "It's not something you get without very close intimate contact, which is why it doesn't tend to cause outbreaks."
She added this transmission route is different from that of COVID-19, which is spread through small aerosols that can hang in the air for several minutes.
"Aerosols are not subject to gravity but large droplets, they get pulled to the ground," Doron said. "Also, monkeypox isn't an illness that is transmitted during the asymptomatic phase, which is what made COVID such a formidable foe."
Monkeypox generally is a mild illness with the most common symptoms being fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches.
Patients can develop a rash and lesions that often begin on the face before spreading to the rest of the body.
"It starts out as spots, then small blisters like you'll see with chickenpox, then pus-filled blisters and then they scab over," Doron explained. "It's a long illness. It lasts a few weeks, but you can be contagious for several weeks and contagious until the blisters scab over."
ABC News confirmed Thursday the CDC is monitoring six Americans who were on the same flight as the British patient who tested positive after traveling to Nigeria.
"They will be followed by health officials for 21 days following their last possible contact with the ill traveler," the CDC said in a statement. "None of the six have any symptoms of monkeypox and the risk for them is very low."
Health officials said it is likely that more cases will emerge either in the U.S. or in other countries, but that Americans should not be concerned.
"We will find more cases," Brownstein said. "There is now heightened public awareness and clearly there will be more clinicians that will be able to recognize the symptoms."
He continued, "But for now, there's nothing to suggest this will have anywhere near the same global impact as COVID-19. The risk to the general public is low."
