There are now more than 70 known cases of monkey pok in britain, and numbers arising in other countries too. The virus that causes it was first spotted in a danish monkey research lab in 19 58. But monkey pox wasn't seen in humans until 19 70, in the democratic republic of congo. We have a potentially effective vaccine and several drugs that are being investigated as treatments. In most cases, it's a very mild disease that goes away in a couple of weeks.