United States: Health officials have confirmed the first U.S. case of a new type of mpox, which was first found in eastern Congo. The person had traveled to eastern Africa and was treated in Northern California after returning. The good news is that the person’s symptoms are getting better, and the risk to the public is very low.
The patient was home quarantined, and others are contacting the health workers in personal capacity as precaution to flatten the curve, the state health department said.
As reported by the Associate Press, Mpox is a very rare disease that results from infection with the Mpox virus which is from the same family as the smallpox virus. It is prevalent in some African regions, and people have contracted the disease through rat or other small animals’ attacks.
He also experiences milder signs such as fever, chills, and body aces. In worse cases, they are given facial, hand, chest and genital ulcers depending on the rates charged by providers.
Back in June, researchers detected the appearance of the new version of mpox in Africa that could be transmitted through addressing close contact, including sexual contact. It was also commonly passed in east and central parts of Africa. However, such cases that have been described among travelers outside the continent have been rarely transmitted, notes the U.S CDC.
No less than 3100 cases can be confirmed since late September only, as per WHO’s report. Ninety one percent of them are found in three African countries namely Burundi, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Since then, travelers with the new mpox form have been identified in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom.
Health officials said this earlier this month that situation in Congo appears to have stabilised. The Africa CDC has said that Congo requires at least 3 million mpox vaccines to interrupt transmission and an additional 7 million for the rest of Africa. This is mostly through sexual contact as well as through close contact with the virus being passed on to children, pregnant women and other needy groups.
The current outbreak is different from the global mpox outbreak that happened in 2022 where gay men and bisexuals comprised of the majority of people got infected.