A Massachusetts man tested positive for the rare monkeypox virus, according to announcements of the case from state and federal health officials. Wednesday’s announcement marked the first monkeypox case in the United states of 2022. Cases are typically limited to Africa, with cases in other parts of the world typically linked to travel to Africa.
“Texas and Maryland each reported a case in 2021 in people with recent travel to Nigeria,” the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) said in a news release. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Massachusetts case “traveled to Canada by private transportation” at the end of April to meet friends before returning in early May.
The Massachusetts case poses no risk to the public. The person is hospitalized but in good condition.
“CDC is also tracking multiple clusters of monkeypox that have been reported within the past two weeks in several countries that don’t normally report monkeypox, including Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom,” the CDC said in its own news release.
“Since early May 2022, the United Kingdom has identified 9 cases of monkeypox,” the Massachusetts DPH added. “UK health officials report that the most recent cases in the UK are in men who have sex with men.”
Monkeypox comes from the same family of viruses as smallpox. Most people recover from monkeypox within weeks, but the disease is fatal for up to 1 in 10 people, according to the World Health Organization. Officials are looking into the possibility that some infections were spread through close contact during sex.
“Many of these global reports of monkeypox cases are occurring within sexual networks,” Dr. Inger Damon, director of CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said in a release. “However, healthcare providers should be alert to any rash that has features typical of monkeypox. We’re asking the public to contact their healthcare provider if they have a new rash and are concerned about monkeypox.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
