Health officials around the world are racing to curb an outbreak of monkeypox cases that has swelled into the thousands, deploying both vaccines and treatments for a disease that can lead to weeks of painful rashes and lesions for those infected.
While monkeypox infections have been seen before in the U.S. — in two travelers from Nigeria last year and in 47 cases that were linked to imported animals back in 2003 — the current outbreak is by far the largest recorded in American history.
Here’s what’s known about the monkeypox outbreak and response: