STORY: The United States declared a national emergency on Thursday due to the rising number of monkeypox infections. As of Wednesday, the number of cases in the United States had risen to over 6,600. Almost all of those infected were men who had sex with men. The virus, which usually causes only mild symptoms such as fever or skin lesions, is transmitted through close skin contact. But that doesn’t always have to do with sex, says Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to US President Joe Biden. “But you always have to take things like this seriously and be open to the fact that there might be more cases like this. You don’t want to panic people because there’s no reason to worry unduly right now, but at the same time you should be in the Be very alert right now, be very careful and follow closely what is going on. The World Health Organization had already declared monkeypox an “international health emergency” in July, putting it on the highest alert level. In the fight against the viral disease, the United States already has 156,000 doses Monkeypox vaccine distributed and another 2.5 million ordered.