The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared monkeypox an international public health emergency for the second time in two years.

“Today, the Emergency Committee on #mpox met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice. @WHO is on the ground, working with the affected countries, and others at risk, through our country and regional offices,” said WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The declaration follows a new, allegedly deadlier strain of the virus—rebranded as Mpox due to “racist and stigmatizing language”—which has been spreading throughout Africa.

According to Africa’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the continent has seen 17,000 cases and 500 deaths this year, with the vast majority of those cases, 14,000, occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The disease comes with a painful rash, fever, muscle soreness, and headaches.

Although authorities claim that the disease can spread from any contact, or even contact with something touched by an infected person, it is widely believed that monkeypox is primarily transmitted through sex, particularly sex between two men.

The new strain, known as clade 1b, is allegedly more easily transmissible.

Although the vast majority of cases are in Africa, the WHO is concerned that the disease could become a problem for the rest of the world if it is not properly contained.

The new announcement comes after another similar declaration in 2022, which spread fear about the disease before the emergency was eventually ended in 2023.

Unlike in the case of COVID, the monkeypox outbreak did not lead to widespread government mandates and lockdowns, although it remains unclear what the federal government will do about the new strain as the 2024 general election approaches.

Previously, monkeypox has failed to incite the same widespread public panic as COVID, in part due to the perception that the disease is primarily spread through homosexual activity between men.