The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed a mask recommendation from its monkeypox travel alert.
The agency told Fox News on Tuesday it took that part of the notice out late on Monday “because it caused confusion.”
“Travel Health Notices inform travelers and clinicians about current health issues that impact travelers’ health, like disease outbreaks, special events or gatherings and natural disasters, in destinations around the world,” the CDC continued. “In countries where there is a current monkeypox outbreak, CDC continues to recommend masking in high-risk situations including for household contacts and healthcare workers, or for other people who may be in close contact with a person who has been confirmed with monkeypox.”
CDC RAISES MONKEYPOX ALERT TO LEVEL 2, RECOMMENDS MASKS DURING TRAVEL
In the initial CDC travel alert, it said wearing a mask can “help protect you from many diseases, including monkeypox.”
Now, its website advises travelers to avoid contact with dead or live wild animals and sick people, including those with skin lesions or genital lesions.
This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely appears outside Africa, has been identified by European and American health authorities in recent days.
(Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP)
In addition, people should avoid eating or preparing meat from wild game or using products derived from wild animals from Africa and avoid contact with contaminated materials used by sick people or that came into contact with infected animals.
The CDC raised its wild-nature to level 2 on Monday.
As of June 3, there have been 35 reported monkeypox cases across the country.
Hundreds have been reported in Europe and numerous other countries globally.
Video
Although the majority of new monkeypox cases have been seen in gay or bisexual men, experts caution that anyone is at potential risk.
People normally become infected with the monkeypox virus through contact with the skin lesions or bodily fluids of infected animals or humans – including respiratory droplets – or through contact with materials contaminated with the virus.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Monkeypox, which is related to smallpox, has milder symptoms.
Some of those symptoms include fever, chills, rash and aches, before lesions develop.
