WHO Convenes Experts to Decide If Monkeypox Is a Global Health Emergency

This 2003 electron microscope image shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions (L) and spherical immature virions (R) obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP

GENEVA—The World Health Organization (WHO) will convene an emergency committee of experts to determine if the expanding monkeypox outbreak that has mysteriously spread outside Africa should be considered a global health emergency.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday he decided to convene the emergency committee on June 23 because the virus has shown “unusual” recent behavior by spreading in countries well beyond parts of Africa where it is endemic.