Investigations by scientists at the CDC and state health departments are ongoing.
Other North American countries and European countries that do not ordinarily see monkeypox have also reported clusters this month.
That includes more than 20 cases in Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom respectively.
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The virus can jump from animals to humans via the respiratory tract, broken skin, or mucous membranes.
There were no deaths and no proven human-to-human transmission.
Investigators ultimately traced the outbreak back to a shipment of small animals imported from Ghana to Texas.
Among the nine species in the shipment were six kinds of rodents.
Symptoms of monkeypox are similar to smallpox but milder.
Symptoms usually begin one to two weeks after exposure.
The lesions change over time, eventually turning into pustules and then scabs before falling off.
People are usually sick for two to four weeks.
That first outbreak was a primer on how to quickly mount a multifaceted defense.
It also prompted authorities to take preparatory steps that left us better resourced to handle the situation today.
Experts also think that getting vaccinatedaftermonkeypox exposure can help either prevent the disease or lessen the severity, theCDCexplains.
(The agency recommends vaccination within four days of exposure.)
The U.S. is in the process of securing more smallpox vaccines in the event of an emergency.
The company says they have been working with the U.S. government on the smallpox vaccine since 2003.
Another smallpox vaccine has also been FDA-approved for monkeypox prevention, although it isnt CDC-recommended or available yet.
Were working on it hard to figure out what we do, President Joe Bidensaid on Sunday.
It is a concern in the sense that if it were to spread, its consequential.
This is a virus we understand.
We have vaccines against it, Dr. Jha said.
I am confident were going to be able to keep our arms around it.