Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, an enveloped doublestranded DNA virus that is part of the orthopoxvirus genus, which also includes smallpox. Despite its name, which came from its initial discovery in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958, monkeypox can infect various animals, including rope squirrels, tree squirrels, Gambian pouched rats and dormice. Transmission is primarily through close contact with an infected animal, close or sexual contact with an infected person, or with materials contaminated with the virus (e.g. bed linen and towels).
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