They need to get their stories right, or, sing from the same hymn sheet.
https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/index.html
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research, hence the name ‘monkeypox.’
The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox. Since then monkeypox has been reported in humans in other central and western African countries.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/....all-topics-z/monkeyp
Epidemiology
Monkeypox is regarded as the most important orthopoxvirus infection in humans since the eradication of smallpox [13]. Human monkeypox virus was first isolated in 1958 from pox lesions during an outbreak of vesicular disease among captive cynomologus macaques imported from Singapore into Denmark for polio-vaccine-related research [22].
Monkeypox | Poxvirus | CDC