Potentially serious monkeypox illness reported in United States

(WAND) - U.S. health officials are investigating the first reported case of monkeypox in the United States this year.

The case was discovered in a Massachusetts resident who recently traveled to Canada by private transportation, authorities said. Massachusetts testing found an orthopox infection Tuesday night. The case was confirmed as monkeypox by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention labs on Wednesday afternoon.

There have been multiple monkeypox clusters reported in the last two weeks in countries that don't normally report the illness, including Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

According to the CDC, it remains unclear how people in the clusters were exposed to monkeypox, but officials added monkeypox cases include people who self-identify as men who have sex with men. Health care providers in the U.S. are asked to be alert for patients who show rash illnesses that are consistent with monkeypox, whether or not they have travel or specific risk factors for it.

Leaders said anyone can spread monkeypox regardless of sexual orientation through body fluid contact, monkeypox sores or shared items - including clothing and bedding - contaminated with fluids or sores of a person who has monkexpox. The virus can also spread through respiratory droplets, and typically in a close setting, such as the same household or a health care setting.

The monkeypox virus can be killed by common household disinfectants.

The CDC called monkeypox a "rare but potentially serious" viral illness. It typically starts with flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes. It can progress to a widespread rash on the face and body. It reemerged in Nigeria in 2017 after over 40 years passed with no reported cases.

“Many of these global reports of monkeypox cases are occurring within sexual networks. However, health care 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,” said Inger Damon, M.D., Ph.D., director of the CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, where poxvirus research through the CDC is based.

Those who show symptoms, and particularly men who report having sex with other men and those who have contact with them, should look for any unusual rashes or lesions and let their health care provider know in order to conduct a risk assessment, the CDC said.