The United States has declared a public health emergency over smallpox. The announcement was made on Thursday, August 4, by US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Javier Becerra.

“We are ready to take the virus response to the next level and urge all Americans to take monkeypox seriously,” he said during a phone interview.

Declaring a public health emergency will allow the country’s authorities to attract additional funding and experts to fight the disease. Previously, the state of emergency due to monkeypox was introduced in the states of New York, California and Illinois.

The United States is the country with the highest number of reported cases of monkeypox. According to the US Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 7,000 cases have been reported in the country.

WHO declares monkeypox a global emergency

In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. At that time, more than 16,000 cases were known in 75 countries. Most infections have been identified in Europe and America.

More often than not, men who have sex with people of the same sex are infected, scientists at Queen Mary University of London have found. The researchers emphasized that smallpox is not a sexually transmitted infection in the traditional sense and can be contracted through any close physical contact.

“However, our work shows that the majority of transmissions so far have been associated with sexual activity, primarily, but not exclusively, among men who have sex with men,” said study leader John Thornhill.