West Chester, Pennsylvania (WPVI) – A student at West Chester University has tested positive for monkeypox.
The student has been identified as a traveler living outside Chester County and not living on campus.
Nancy Santos Jenner, the university’s vice president of communications, told Action News the student is currently isolated and doing well.
Once the university found out, Jenner said, it started working with the local health department to find out if anyone in Chester County had the virus.
Jenner said there were no reports of close contact with students at this time. There are no other reports of monkeypox at the university.
The students told Action News that they received an email from the university that one of the students taking the summer class had tested positive for monkeypox.
According to medical experts, the monkeypox virus usually begins with common viral symptoms such as headache, fever, pain and fatigue. But then it can increase and some may break out in the form of a rash, or signs of smallpox as it is known, all over the body.
It is usually spread by respiratory droplets, usually after prolonged contact, other body fluids or other forms of close contact.
“We want people to know that they have been in close contact with someone who has monkeypox. It’s not easy to pass it on,” Jenner explained.
It remains unclear whether the student has had contact with anyone outside of Chester County.
If that’s the case, Gainer said other county health departments would call anyone exposed.
Until now, it is still unknown from where the student contracted monkeypox.
The University of West Chester released this statement to Action News:
“Health officials at West Chester University received confirmation last weekend that a student passenger had tested positive for monkeypox. The student is currently in isolation and doing well. According to an investigative effort by the Department of Primary Health in the case, the university has been told there was no close contact in Chester County. No further university reports, and according to the CDC and PA Department of Health, the risk of monkeypox remains very low.”
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