A rare and mysterious monkeypox spread has now been detected in the United States after being observed in the United Kingdom and raises concerns for a potential outbreak.
The first American case of the infection was reported in Massachusetts and is a man who had recently traveled to Canada. He was later hospitalized with a viral infection at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Monkeypox in the US
Testing of the patient was completed on Tuesday and confirmed that he was indeed infected with monkeypox. The disease is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that causes flu-like symptoms and swelling of lymph nodes. It would later progress into a widespread rash on the individual's face and body, said the Massachusetts Department of Health.
In a statement, the agency said that the DPH was working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), relevant local boards of health, and the patient's healthcare providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with him while he was infectious. The contact tracing approach is the most appropriate procedure given the nature and transmission of the virus, as per The Blaze.
Monkeypox is a disease native to parts of central and west Africa, where people may have been exposed to the virus through bites or scratches from infected animals. While the infection is not known to spread easily among humans, transmission can occur through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, or respiratory droplets after prolonged face-to-face contact.
The Massachusetts case is the first monkeypox infection identified in the United States this year. There were two previous cases reported last year in Texas and Maryland, both of which were individuals who traveled to Nigeria.
According to the Washington Post, the outbreak was reported in Europe, where authorities confirmed more than a dozen cases just this month and are currently investigating dozens more. Some of the infections reported in the UK have had "no travel links" to areas where monkeypox is regularly found, suggesting that the virus was spreading through the community.
What is Monkeypox?
A professor of evolution and genomics at the University of Oxford, Aris Katzourakis, said the situation was striking because monkeypox is not easily spread between humans. This becomes even more alarming due to the fact that several countries are reporting confirmed cases simultaneously. The situation also comes as the illness is recorded to have a global death rate of zero to 11% in the general population, based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Katzourakis said that the sudden outbreak of monkeypox was due to either a lot of bad luck or something quite unusual was happening. The name of the disease was made from the animals that it was discovered. It first appeared in 1958 among monkeys that were kept as research subjects.
In 1970, the first human case was reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it has since spread to several other nations. The CDC said that it is possible for the illness to spread to humans who are hunting wild animals or preparing bush meat for consumption.
The most common symptoms of the disease are fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches. The infection has been identified in only a small number of Americans as the CDC said that the disease does not naturally occur in the US, ABC News reported.
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