RELATED: Year’s 1st case of rare monkeypox reported in the US The four confirmed cases in Germany have been linked to exposure at 'party events including on Gran Canaria and in Berlin, where sexual activity took place,' it said. That marks a significant departure from the disease’s typical pattern of spread in central and western Africa, where people are mainly infected by animals like wild rodents and primates and outbreaks have not spilled across borders.Ī German government report to lawmakers, obtained by the AP, said it expected to see further cases and that the risk of catching monkeypox 'mainly appears to lie with sexual contacts among men.'