Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said Monday that although anyone can contract or spread the monkeypox virus, the "handful" of cases in the United States did not appear to pose a risk to the larger population.
"In terms of a public health concern, there are only a handful of cases being seen in the United States right now," Capt. Jennifer McQuiston, a veterinarian and deputy director in the CDC Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said during a conference call with reporters.
"We are typically doing surveillance on them and trying to track them to be sure we are capturing cases, but right now the case count is low. I don't think there is a great risk to the general community from monkeypox."
McQuiston said there was one confirmed case of monkeypox in Massachusetts, and four other possible cases in New York, Florida, and two in Utah, which are comprised of men who traveled internationally.
CDC Epidemiologist Dr. John Brooks said the cases that are spreading around the globe appear to be predominantly among gay men, but others with extended physical contact also could get and spread the disease.
According to the World Health Organization, "monkeypox virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets, and contaminated materials such as bedding. The incubation period of monkeypox is usually from 6 to 13 days but can range from 5 to 21 days."
The zoological virus is from the same family as smallpox, known as orthopoxvirus, and is spread from an animal, like a rodent transmitting to a human, and then spreading through the humans.
McQuiston said the outbreak being observed was from a milder West African strain of the virus that has been circulating for the last few years in that region.
The disease includes a fever and a rash, which could appear in the genital regions of the body, but patients usually recover in about four weeks, Brooks said.
The rash lesions spread the virus to others through extended skin-to-skin contact, or possibly through the air from lesions in the mouth, Brooks said.
McQuiston said the virus was not something that people likely would contract from casual contact, such as passing someone in a grocery store aisle.
People developing a rash after a fever were advised to isolate for up to 14 days to prevent spreading the virus to others in their families, Brooks said.
McQuiston also said the U.S. had a previous outbreak of monkeypox in 2003.
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