Anybody can contact monkeypox through close contact,' Seale said. 'Based on currently available information, cases have mainly but not exclusively been identified amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) seeking care in primary care and sexual health clinics,' the WHO said on Saturday.Īndy Seale, an advisor with the WHO's global HIV, hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections programs, said during a live-streamed Q&A by the agency on Monday that though the agency is seeing monkeypox cases among men who identify as gay or bisexual, 'This is not a gay disease as some people in social media have attempted to label it.' Portugal, Spain, and the UK currently account for the highest number of confirmed monkeypox cases with each country having reported between 21 and 30 cases, according to statistics compiled by the WHO. Monkeypox has recently been detected in the US, Canada, Australia, and across Europe. The disease is transmitted to humans 'through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus,' the WHO has said.Īs of Saturday, 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported to the WHO from a dozen countries since May 13.