The United Nations' AIDS agency on Sunday called some reporting on the monkeypox virus racist and homophobic, warning of exacerbating stigma and undermining the response to the growing outbreak.
UNAIDS said "a significant proportion" of recent monkeypox cases have been identified among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
But transmission is most likely via close physical contact with a monkeypox sufferer and could affect anyone, it added, saying some portrayals of Africans and LGBTI people "reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbate stigma".
As of 21 May, the World Health Organization received reports of 92 laboratory-confirmed monkeypox cases and 28 suspected cases from 12 countries where the disease is not endemic, including several European nations, the United States, Australia and Canada.
The Australian cases - a man in his 40s in NSW and another man in his 30s in Victoria - had both recently travelled to Europe and are now isolating.
"Stigma and blame undermine trust and capacity to respond effectively during outbreaks like this one," said UNAIDS deputy executive director Matthew Kavanagh.
"Experience shows that stigmatising rhetoric can quickly disable evidence-based response by stoking cycles of fear, driving people away from health services, impeding efforts to identify cases, and encouraging ineffective, punitive measures."
Monkeypox symptoms include fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a chickenpox-like rash on the hands and face.
No treatment exists, but the symptoms usually clear up after two to four weeks. The disease is considered endemic in 11 African nations.
Monkeypox has caught the attention of US President Joe Biden, who said on Sunday that people should be on guard against the disease which has the potential for "consequential" impact if it were to spread further.
The US leader, on his maiden trip to Asia as president, said in Seoul that health officials have not fully briefed him about "the level of exposure" in the United States.
"But it is something that everybody should be concerned about," Mr Biden told reporters.
"It is a concern in that if it were to spread it would be consequential," he added. "We're working on it hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine if any might be available for it."
