The case, involving two men and their Italian greyhound living in Paris, was reported last week in the medical journal the Lancet.

Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for monkeypox said experts had been aware of the theoretical risk that such a jump could happen, adding that public health agencies had already been advising those who caught the disease to “isolate from their pets”.

She also said “waste management is critical” to lowering the risk of contaminating rodents and other animals outside the household.