For the second time in four weeks, a committee of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) met in Geneva on Thursday because of the evidence of monkeypox in many countries.
He should assess whether the situation poses a major public health threat and is advising the WHO on whether to declare an "emergency of international concern".
As a rule, the WHO does not provide information on the results of the consultations on the same day.
Declaring an emergency is the highest WHO alert level
Declaring a state of emergency is the WHO's highest alert level for health threats.
This does not have any immediate consequences – it is rather intended to alert governments to do something to protect their population.
Each country decides for itself which measures to take.
As of July 20, the CDC reported more than 15,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox this year, the vast majority in more than 60 countries where monkeypox was previously unknown.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, there were around 2,200 cases in Germany as of July 21.
Monkeypox infection can cause skin rash, swollen lymph nodes, genital and anal inflammation, fever, chills, and muscle pain.
The disease is usually not fatal.
According to the WHO, the majority of those affected are men who have sex with men.
In general, however, anyone who has close physical contact with an infected person can become infected.
The vaccine once developed against smallpox is also effective against monkeypox.
The WHO Monkeypox Emergency Committee is chaired by Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the retired former head of WHO's immunization department.
Congo is one of six countries in Africa that have known about monkeypox infections in humans for decades.
The committee includes 16 experts who are particularly familiar with the disease.