Massachusetts health officials have confirmed a case of monkeypox, the first identified in the United States in 2022. The Department of Public Health said the infection was found in an adult man who recently traveled to Canada.
The man, a Massachusetts resident, has been hospitalized at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) since May 12. He is isolated and in stable condition. The hospital said that because the disease is so rare, it took six days to diagnose it with the help of the CDC.
Health authorities are working to identify anyone who may have been in close contact with him. Doctors at MGH said the patient had traveled to Canada, but that he had no history of travel to areas with high levels of monkeypox, a disease normally found in Africa.
According to experts, monkeypox can resemble the first symptoms of the flu; then appear lesions that spread throughout the body. Most infections last two to four weeks. However, it is not easily spread. The reason this case is getting so much attention, health officials said, is that it was not spread through contact with an animal or through travel to areas with a high number of monkeypox cases, but rather of people.
“As we learn more, we urge health care providers, particularly those in outpatient settings, to remain vigilant for potential cases and take necessary precautions,” said Dr. Sarimer Sánchez, director of the Office. of Infectious Diseases of the Boston Public Health Commission.
“I would emphasize that historically this has been a rare disease and with very rare transmission around the world. What we have seen in the UK, Spain and Europe has been novel, and gives us cause for concern, but I think people should not be afraid of monkeypox at the moment. And the admitted patient does not represent any risk to public health. People should be aware of the symptoms, but not be afraid in any way,” said MGH’s Dr. Paul Biddinger.
“Really right now, person-to-person transmission has really happened through close contact, broadly speaking. And that’s close contact through respiratory droplets and prolonged face-to-face contact, as well as direct contact through lesions or direct contact through contaminated bedding or, more or less, clothing contaminated with lesions. » said Dr. Sanchez.
The CDC is tracking multiple clusters of monkeypox that have been reported in the last two weeks in Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. According to the CDC, “it is not clear how people in those groups were exposed to monkeypox, but the cases include people who identify themselves as men who have sex with men.”
The United States identified two cases of monkeypox in Texas and Maryland in 2021 in people who had recently traveled to Nigeria
