The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, confirmed the sixth case of monkeypox in the state of California on Monday, 10 days after the first recorded case in Sacramento County.

According to the CDC, the United States has detected a total of 31 cases across 13 states as of Monday morning, raising the alert level for monkeypox to a level two.

“Monkeypox is a pox virus that typically infects monkeys in certain parts of Africa but can also infect small rodents, other types of animals, and on occasion can be transmitted to people and between people,” said Arthur Reingold, an epidemiology professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

Most monkeypox transmission involves direct contact with the skin, according to Reingold. He added individuals may experience symptoms such as fevers, skin rashes, malaise and fatigue, with the most prominent being the characteristic pox lesions on the skin.

Reingold said that due to the rarity of the disease in regions outside of Africa, most clinicians do not have experience diagnosing monkeypox and can only detect it by observing the distinctive rash around the body. After the rash is identified, appropriate laboratory testing is necessary to formally diagnose the disease, according to Reingold.

The incubation period usually lasts 10-14 days according to the CDC, and infected individuals are kept in isolation to prevent the transmission of the virus to other individuals and animals.

“My understanding is that while there are one to two drugs that may have some effects against monkeypox, they are not easy to find; they are not commonly used,” Reingold said. “For the most part people do eventually get better on their own without treatment.”

In terms of prevention, the smallpox vaccine has been observed to be effective against the disease before exposure. In addition, it can also prevent the virus after exposure if it is received up to 7-10 days after the first exposure, according to Reingold.

David Heymann, a leading advisor at the World Health Organization, stated that raves in Belgium and Spain may have set off the recent outbreak of the viral disease.

“The risk of getting monkeypox going about your business in Berkeley is vanishingly small to begin with, so I wouldn’t change my personal behavior based on these cases of monkeypox,” Reingold said. “Hand-washing is a good public health measure for anything.”