Dozens of suspected or confirmed cases of Monkeypox have been detected in North America and Europe by health authorities, causing concern that the disease is spreading from Africa where it is endemic.
The disease has only been fatal in rare cases, having infected thousands of people in central and western Africa.
Britain has confirmed nine cases since May 6 and the United States verified its first yesterday.
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WHO infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Maria Van Kerkhove told RTE's Claire Byrne this morning that they are concerned about the spread of the virus, calling for greater focus on how it is transmitted.
She explained that very little attention has been given to the illness but the World Health Organisation considers it a "priority pathogen".
She said: "We are trying to expand our understanding of the circulation of this virus which typically is transmitted between people through contact, physical contact with lesions, with open sores.
"We are working with a number of countries to identify who is infected and of course to prevent onward transmission and they receive the appropriate care."
The first case in Britain was found in someone who travelled from Nigeria.
Symptoms of Monkeypox include a fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.
It was first discovered in a colony of monkeys in modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1958 and the first human case was confirmed 12 years later in 1970.
A fever can start within one to three days of contracting the disease. The patient can develop a rash that usually begins on the face then spreads to other parts of the body.
According to the NHS, patients can contract Monkeypox from infected wild animals in parts of west and central Africa. This can occur if you're bitten by the animal or you touch its blood, body fluids, spots, blisters or scabs.
Monkeypox can also be caught by eating the meat of an infected animal that hasn’t been cooked properly or if you touch other products from the infected animal like its skin or fur.
Meanwhile, the CDC says that human to human transmission occurs through "large respiratory droplets" which is made possible by "prolonged face-to-face contact".
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