US President Joe Biden has said that US citizens should be on guard against the monkeypox disease. (Credits: Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
Seoul, South Korea: Monkeypox has caught the attention of US President Joe Biden, who said Sunday that people should be on guard against the disease which has the potential for "consequential" impact, if it were to spread further.
Several cases of monkeypox have been detected in North America and Europe since early May, sparking concern the disease, endemic in parts of Africa, is spreading.
The US leader, on his maiden trip to Asia as president, said in Seoul that health officials have not fully briefed him about "the level of exposure" in the
United States.
"But it is something that everybody should be concerned about," Biden told reporters before boarding Air Force One to fly to
Tokyo.
"It is a concern, in that, if it were to spread, it would be consequential," he added.
"We're working on it hard to figure out what we do, and what vaccine if any might be available for it."
The first US case in the recent global spate was reported on May 18 in Massachusetts, which was joined on Sunday by Florida.
Health authorities said they were investigating the southern state's first presumptive case of
monkeypox in someone who had recently traveled abroad.
Most people recover within several weeks and monkeypox has only been fatal in rare cases.
The
World Health Organization said that as of Saturday there were 92 confirmed cases of the disease in countries where monkeypox is not endemic.
© Agence France-Presse