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Herpes-infected monkeys are spreading across the US after escaping from a national park.

Silver Springs State Park in Florida has long been home to a large troop of STD-carrying rhesus macaques, native to south and south-east Asia.

However, sightings are becoming more frequent hundreds of miles from the park, US media reports.

They’ve been spotted in St. Johns, St. Augustine, Palatka, Welaka and Elkton in north-east Florida.

A survey conducted in 2018 found there around 300 monkeys in the group, 25% of which carry herpes B.

Though extremely rare in humans, it can cause brain damage and death if not treated.

(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

However, there has been no population control in place for the monkeys since 2012, First Coast News reports.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) enacted a feeding ban of the monkeys in 2017 and has also tracked encounters of the population.

Between 1977 and 1984, the FWC noted 23 injuries to humans but has not kept records since.

Back in October, a study suggested the monkeys’ population will double by 2022 unless state agencies take steps to control it.

The monkeys were originally part of a failed tourist attraction called Colonel Tooey's Jungle Cruise in the 1930s.

(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Six of them were released onto a small island in the state park, but swam away and escaped into the woods.

Six more were brought in to replace them but they escaped as well.

By the 1980s, hundreds had spread out across the 5,000-acre park.

In November 2019, a kayaker in Silver Springs State Park filmed dozens of monkeys diving from trees uncomfortably close to his boat.

Earlier this month, Daily Star Online revealed an Indian village is being terrorised by marauding troops of monkeys with residents fleeing the area.

(Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

An out-of-control population of over 400 monkeys have taken over homes as desperate locals fight a losing battle against the primates.

Around 20 families, sick of being assaulted and having their fields and homes raided by the opportunist macaques, have fled the village.

The problems started over 15 years ago when a troop of monkeys were kicked out of the neighbouring city of Hyderabad by poachers and abandoned nearby.