A case of the rare and potentially dangerous monkeypox has been confirmed in the US after infections were reported across Europe.
The infected man had recently traveled to Canada and is now receiving treatment in hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Department of Health said the case poses no risk to the public.
The case, the first in the US so far this year, follows reports of scattered cases in Europe, including seven in the UK and others in Portugal and Spain. Health officials in Canada are investigating up to 13 cases in Montreal, Radio-Canada reported.
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What is Monkeypox ?
Monkeypox: How Can You Catch It And What Are The Symptoms?
Monkeypox is a rare, usually mild infection, typically caught from infected wild animals in parts of Africa. It was first discovered in 1958 in monkeys kept for research – hence the name – with the first human case recorded in 1970, according to the CDC. The disease is a relative of smallpox, causing a rash that often begins on the face, according to the UK’s NHS website.
How can you catch it?
Monkeypox can be caught from a bite by an infected animal, or by touching its blood, body fluids or fur. It’s thought to be spread by rodents, such as rats, mice and squirrels. It’s also possible to catch the disease by eating meat from an infected animal that has not been cooked properly.
It’s very unusual to catch monkeypox from a human, because it doesn’t spread easily between people. It is possible to spread the disease through touching clothing, bedding or towels used by someone with the rash. The disease can also be transmitted by touching monkeypox skin blisters or scabs, or getting too close to coughs and sneezes from an infected person.
What are the symptoms of monkeypox?
If you get infected with monkeypox, it usually takes between five to 21 days for the first symptoms to appear. These include a fever, a headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen glands, shivering and exhaustion.
A rash typically appears one to five days after experiencing these symptoms. The rash is sometimes confused with chickenpox, because it starts as raised spots which turn into small scabs filled with fluid. The symptoms usually clear up within two to four weeks and scabs falls off.
Can monkeypox kill you?
Studies in central Africa, where people have less access to quality health care, show the disease kills as many as one in 10 infected people, according to the World Health Organization. However, most patients recover within a few weeks.
Cases
The Massachusetts agency said the virus does not spread easily between people, but transmission can occur through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, items such as bedding or clothing that have been contaminated with fluids or sores, or through respiratory droplets following prolonged face-to-face contact.
It said no monkeypox cases had previously been identified in the United States this year. Texas and Maryland each reported a case in 2021 in people with recent travel to Nigeria.
The CDC also said it is tracking multiple clusters of monkeypox reported in several countries including Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, within the past two weeks.
A handful of cases of monkeypox have recently been reported or are suspected in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.
Earlier on Wednesday, Portuguese authorities said they had identified five cases of the infection and Spain’s health services said they were testing 23 potential cases after Britain put Europe on alert for the virus.
European health authorities are monitoring any outbreak of the disease since Britain reported its first case on May 7 and has found six more in the country since then.
