First case of monkeypox confirmed in US this year in man who had traveled to Canada

0

This first US case of monkeypox this year was confirmed in Massachusetts Tuesday as health officials said an adult man who recently returned from Canada contracted the disease.

The patient has been hospitalized in good condition and “the case poses no risk to the public,” according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

The department said it was working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other local health boards to contact and trace any individuals who may have been exposed to the patient.

Cases of the virus have been surging worldwide.

On Wednesday, officials confirmed five cases of monkeypox in Portugal and were investigating over a dozen others — all of which were men, most of them young.

Earlier in the week, UK officials said they identified four cases of monkeypox spread in London among gay and bisexual men around London. Nine cases have been confirmed in the country since May.

The disease is uncommon outside of central and west Africa and is part of the same family of viruses that includes chickenpox and smallpox.

Typical symptoms of monkeypox include fever, chills, a rash and lesions on the face or genitals resembling those caused by smallpox.

An image created during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Monkeypox patients endure symptoms such as rashes.
CDC/Brian W.J. Mahy/Handout via REUTERS

“Illness could be clinically confused with a sexually transmitted infection like syphilis or herpes, or with varicella zoster virus,” MPDH said. Infections typically last 2-4 weeks.

People are believed to be exposed to the virus in Africa through bites or scratches from rodents and small mammals, preparing wild game, or having contact with an infected animal or possibly animal products, officials said.

However the virus “does not spread easily between people,” MPDH said. Transmission through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, or clothing, or bedding contaminated with fluids or sores. It can also be exchanged through “respiratory droplets following prolonged face-to-face contact.”

An electron microscopic (EM) image shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virus particles as well as crescents and spherical particles of immature virions, obtained from a clinical human skin sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak in this undated image obtained by Reuters on May 18, 2022.
Portugal previously detected five cases of monkeypox.
Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regnery/CDC/Handout via REUTERS

A vaccine developed against smallpox has been approved for monkeypox, and several antivirals also appear to be effective.

According to MDPH, this is the first case confirmed in the United States in 2022. In 2021, cases were reported in Texas and Maryland in two people who had recently traveled to Nigeria.

Officials said people should be tested if they: develop an unexplained rash; have traveled to a country where monkeypox has been reported in the last 30 days; have been in contact with those with confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox; or are men who have sex with other men.

With Post Wires

Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our  Twitter, & Facebook

We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.

For all the latest For News Update Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Rapidtelecast.com is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
Leave a comment