Two cases of monkeypox have been detected for the first time in children in the United States, US health officials said on Friday, the AP reports on Saturday.
One of the infected people is a very young child who resides in California. The second infected person does not live in the United States, but was tested while in Washington DC, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Both patients are doing well and undergoing treatment. Research is currently underway to determine how they may have become infected with the disease.
An approved vaccine
First detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin, smallpox, eradicated in 1980.
Detected in early May, the unusual rise in monkeypox cases outside of West and Central African countries where the virus is endemic has since spread across the world, with Europe as the epicenter.
In most cases, patients are men who have sex with men, relatively young and living mainly in cities, according to the WHO.
On Friday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it had approved the use of a smallpox vaccine to expand its use against the spread of monkeypox. In fact, this vaccine is already used for this purpose in several countries, including France.
Source: BFM TV
