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Monkeypox cases have been detected in the US for the first time in children. According to health authorities, a toddler from California and an infant who is not a US resident have contracted the virus. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the two cases are unrelated and were likely due to household transmission, revealing that the children were in good health and were being treated.

Read more: WHO: Number of people diagnosed with monkeypox increasing

Monkeypox spreads through close contact with others, causing flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, and has been spreading mostly among homosexual men in recent times. 

This year as of now, there have been over 14,000 cases of monkeypox in over 60 countries, with five deaths in Africa, which struggles with accessible healthcare.

Jennifer McQuiston, the deputy director of the CDC's division of high consequence pathogens and pathology, said that although it isn't a surprise that pediatric cases of monkeypox have emerged, "there is no evidence to date that we are seeing this virus spread outside” the communities of gay, bisexual and other men who had sex with men."

McQuiston revealed that 99% of the 2,891 monkeypox cases in the US involved men who were having sex with men - in addition to a handful of women and transgender men who have been infected by the virus.

The US government has delivered around 300,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine, and is also working to expedite a Denmark shipment carrying 786,000 more doses. 

Fatality rates in previous outbreaks in Africa have been around 1% - this outbreak seems to be less lethal in non-endemic countries. Patients, however, are being hospitalized for severe pain. 

There are debates on whether monkeypox should be declared a public health emergency.