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Monkeypox is a smallpox-like zoonosis indigenous to monkeys in Africa that has spread from monkeys to humans. Reports of this infection in humans have increased markedly during the past decade and now involve the Central African Republic, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The causative agent is an orthopoxvirus, and infection results in a centrifugal vesicular rash involving the palms and soles and systemic organ involvement similar to smallpox, but with greater prevalence of lymphadenopathy. There is no specific treatment, and the disease generally lasts up to 4 weeks but carries a case fatality rate of about 11%.
The spread from monkeys and other small animals, suc…