On Sept. 24, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the donation of 1 million mpox vaccine doses and at least $500 million to African countries to support their response to the outbreak. In August, the World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in Democratic Republic of Congo that spread to neighboring countries and beyond, including India.

Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. The outbreak in Congo began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But a new variant, clade Ib, appeared to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.