Pyeongtaek, South Korea – President Biden said Sunday that the latest cases of monkeypox, which have been identified in Europe and the United States, are something “you should be concerned about.”
In his first public comment on the disease, Mr Biden added: “This is a concern, because if it spreads, it will be consistent.”
The president was asked about the disease as he spoke to reporters at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea, where he visited troops before flying to Japan to continue his first trip to Asia as president.
Health officials are investigating a possible case of monkeypox in New York 04:28
“They haven’t told me the level of exposure yet, but it’s something everyone should be concerned about,” Biden said. He added that work was under way to determine which vaccine could be effective.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters on a flight to Tokyo that the United States had a supply of “a vaccine that is important in treating monkeypox.”
“We have a vaccine available to deploy for this purpose,” he said. Sullivan said Biden was receiving regular updates on the epidemic.
Smallpox is rarely identified outside of Africa, but as of Friday, there were 80 confirmed cases worldwide, including at least two in the United States and another 50 suspects. The first case was confirmed in Massachusetts last week, and authorities in New York are investigating another alleged infection.
Although the disease belongs to the same viral family as smallpox, its symptoms are milder. People usually recover within two to four weeks without having to be hospitalized, but sometimes the disease is fatal.
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