Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a smallpox disease occurred in colonies of monkeys bred for research, hence the name “monkeypox”. Well, first of all, monkeypox doesn't come from monkeys. It is called monkeypox because it was first isolated from a monkey in Africa, but its reservoir is in rodents, specifically in rodents in Central and West Africa. Scientists came up with the name monkeypox in 1958 after it was first detected in laboratory monkeys.
The first human case of monkeypox occurred in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, during a period of intensified efforts to eliminate smallpox. Since then, monkeypox has been reported in humans from other countries in Central and West Africa. The name monkeypox comes from the first documented case of infection.
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