WASHINGTON: U.S. health officials on Friday urged doctors to test for monkeypox if they suspect cases, saying there may be community-level spread but that it was too soon to say if the disease will become endemic and that the overall public health risk remained low.

So far, there have been 21 reported cases of the disease in at least 11 states, with patients isolated to help prevent contagion, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials told reporters in a conference call.