According to health officials in the nation’s capital, the first positive case of orthopox, a virus family that includes monkeypox, has been detected in a DC resident who recently traveled to Europe.
According to a press statement from the DC Public Health Lab, samples were gathered from the infected person and transmitted to the CDC for additional investigation. The CDC will determine whether the individual has monkeypox.
Officials said in a statement that the infected person is isolating himself and that close contacts are being alerted. In the DC area, no new instances have been reported. This guy poses no threat to the public, according to officials.
Muscle aches, fever, and headache are common symptoms, which are followed by a rash or lesions.
Monkeypox has been found in 11 different states.
Anyone having symptoms is encouraged to call their healthcare practitioner and seek medical treatment.
Potential instances of the virus have also been confirmed in Atlanta and San Francisco among people who have recently traveled to infected locations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) verified 25 cases of monkeypox in the United States on June 3. The first positive case in the United States was discovered on May 18 in a person who had recently returned from Canada.
In the United States, two strains have been discovered, with the great majority of cases matching the same strain that has been discovered in Europe in recent weeks.
Both strains are of the Western African form, which is milder. However, the fact that there were two separate strains of the virus suggests that there were several animal-to-human transmissions of the virus that finally led to instances in the United States.
Raj Panjabi, senior director of the White House’s global health security and biodefense division, stated on June 4 that 1,200 vaccines and 100 treatment courses had been delivered to US states, where they were distributed to infected people’s close contacts.
There are currently two licensed vaccines: ACAM2000 and JYNNEOS, both of which were developed to combat smallpox.
Though smallpox has been eradicated, the vaccines are kept in a strategic national reserve in case it is used as a biological weapon.
JYNNEOS is the more recent vaccine, with fewer side effects.
According to the BBC, the World Health Organization reported 780 cases of monkeypox worldwide as of June 5.
This is nearly triple the 257 cases reported by the agency a week ago.
This figure excludes Central and West Africa, where the disease is common.
‘It is quite possible that other countries will uncover cases, and the virus will spread further,’ the WHO stated in its study.
The majority of the new cases are in North America and Europe, with the United Kingdom leading the way with 207 instances and Spain following closely behind with 156.
A WHO official indicated in a press conference earlier this week that monkeypox may have been circulating unreportedly outside of Central and West Africa for years.
‘There may have been undiscovered transmission for a time,’ Rosamund Lewis, the organization’s technical head for monkeypox, said. We don’t know how long that could have been. We’re not sure if it’ll be weeks, months, or perhaps a couple of years.’
Virology professor Marc Van Ranst of the University of Leuven in Belgium told NBC News: ‘How long have these viruses been in circulation, beneath the radar?’ Nobody believes this just appeared out of Africa a few weeks ago.’
Monkeypox had already been found in Northern Virginia, when a woman was diagnosed with the disease on May 26.
The Virginia Department of Health noted in a statement that the woman had recently been to “an African country where the disease is known to exist.”
Monkeypox is spread from person to person by contact with bodily fluids or through disease-induced liaisons.
The virus can be transferred through respiratory droplets and face-to-face contact, as well as contaminated bedding or clothing in rare cases.
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