Table 1.

Relevant developments in the history of monkeypox (1958–2022).

Year	Developments
1958	Monkeypox virus discovered in captive Macaca fascicularis monkeys
1970	First recognized case of human monkeypox in a 9-month-old child in DRC
1970–1979	Forty-seven human monkey cases reported in West and Central Africa, 81% of them in DRC
1981–1986	WHO monitoring project of human monkeypox in DRC
1996	Sudden increase in the number of human monkeypox cases reported in DRC, after a period of 10 years of persistent decrease in the number of cases
2003	First outbreak of human monkeypox outside its endemic region, registered in the USA, and indirectly related to various rodent species infected imported from West Africa
2017	The largest outbreak of human monkeypox on record in West Africa, ongoing in Nigeria
2018–2019	Linked with the Nigeria 2017 outbreak, imported cases of human monkeypox were registered in the United Kingdom, Israel, and Singapore
2022	Human monkeypox outbreaks occur in several countries outside endemic areas, mainly in Europe and North America. WHO determined this new outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concerns. First report of transmission of monkeypox virus from an infected human to an animal (a companion dog)

DRC, Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire); USA, United States of America; WHO, World Health Organization.