Lancaster County has reported its first case of monkeypox.
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department said Tuesday that the person is a man in his 30s with a history of travel outside of Nebraska. He is isolating at home and the Health Department is investigating potential close contacts and will notify anyone who may have been exposed.
The case is considered to be a presumed case at this point, with further testing being done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the diagnosis.
The Lancaster County case is at least the fourth case of the disease found in Nebraska so far. Douglas County has reported the other three cases.
Monkeypox is caused by a virus similar to the one that causes smallpox, although it generally is milder. In addition to a rash that produces pimples or blisters, symptoms of the disease can include fever, headaches and body aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and fatigue.
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The disease is usually spread by skin-to-skin contact with an infected person, although it can be spread through body fluids.
The Health Department said the risk to the public is low, but that anyone who exhibits symptoms should see a health-care provider.
The Nebraska cases are part of one of the biggest outbreaks of the disease ever in the US As of Monday, the CDC had confirmed more than 1,800 cases in 45 states. Worldwide, there have been nearly 13,000 cases diagnosed in just the past two months.
Third suspected monkeypox case identified in Douglas County
Douglas County reports second suspected monkeypox case
Nebraska reports first monkeypox case
What is monkeypox and where is it spreading?
What is monkeypox?
Monkeypox is a virus that originates in wild animals like rodents and primates, and occasionally jumps to people. Most human cases have been in central and west Africa, where the disease is endemic.
The illness was first identified by scientists in 1958 when there were two outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in research monkeys — thus the name monkeypox. The first known human infection was in 1970, in a 9-year-old boy in a remote part of Congo.
Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP
What are the symptoms and how is it treated?
Monkeypox belongs to the same virus family as smallpox but causes milder symptoms.
Most patients experience only fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.
The incubation period is from about five days to three weeks. Most people recover within about two to four weeks without needing to be hospitalized.
Monkeypox can be fatal for up to one in 10 people and is thought to be more severe in children.
People exposed to the virus are often given one of several smallpox vaccines, which have been shown to be effective against monkeypox. Anti-viral drugs are also being developed.
On Thursday, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control recommended all suspected cases be isolated and that high-risk contacts be offered the smallpox vaccine.
AP photo/Janet Hostetter
How many monkeypox cases are there typically?
The World Health Organization estimates there are thousands of monkeypox infections in about a dozen African countries every year. Most are in Congo, which reports about 6,000 cases annually, and Nigeria, with about 3,000 cases a year.
Patchy health monitoring systems mean many infected people are likely missed, experts say.
Isolated cases of monkeypox are occasionally spotted outside Africa, including in the US and Britain. The cases are typically associated with travel to Africa or contact with animals from areas where the disease is more common.
In 2003, 47 people in six US states had confirmed or probable cases. They caught the virus from pet prairie dogs that were housed near imported small mammals from Ghana.
AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File
What’s different about these cases?
It’s the first time monkeypox appears to be spreading among people who didn’t travel to Africa.
In Europe, infections have been reported in Britain, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Most of the cases involve men who have had sex with men.
Britain’s Health Security Agency said its cases are not all connected, suggesting that there are multiple chains of transmission happening.
The infections in Portugal were picked up at a sexual health clinic, where the men sought help for lesions on their genitals.
On Wednesday, US officials reported one case of monkeypox in a man who had recently traveled to Canada, where authorities are investigating potential infections.
AP Photo/Allen Sullivan
Is monkeypox being spread through sex?
It’s possible, but it’s unclear at the moment.
Monkeypox has not previously been documented to have spread through sex, but it can be transmitted through close contact with infected people, their body fluids and their clothing or bedsheets.
Michael Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London, said it’s still too early to determine how the men in the UK were infected.
“By nature, sexual activity involves intimate contact, which one would expect to increase the likelihood of transmission, whatever a person’s sexual orientation and irrespective of the mode of transmission,” Skinner said.
Francois Balloux of University College London said monkeypox said sex qualifies as the kind of close contact needed to transmit the disease.
The UK cases “do not necessarily imply any recent change in the virus’ route of transmission,” Balloux said.
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Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.
Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP
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