The decision was announced Saturday morning after WHO convened its second emergency committee on the issue on Thursday. “I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Saturday morning. Currently, the US is reporting over 2,800 probable or confirmed monkeypox cases in 44 states, DC and Puerto Rico, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Globally, there are over 16,500 cases reported in 74 countries Monkeypox is a much less severe cousin of the now-eradicated smallpox virus. It is endemic to parts of West and Central Africa and is usually contracted from a rodent or small mammal. The monkeypox virus can spread through contact with body fluids, sores or items such as clothing and bedding contaminated with the virus. It can also spread from person to person through respiratory droplets, typically in a close setting, according to the CDC.