Some US health officials are conceding that monkeypox is probably not going away anytime soon. The disease’s spread is slowing but the virus is so widespread that elimination is unlikely, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.

That conclusion was in a recent CDC report, and echoed by Marc Lipsitch, director of science in the agency's disease-forecasting centre. Lipsitch hesitated to say monkeypox is permanently here to stay, but he said it stands to be a continuing threat for the next few years.