Monkeypox case found in an adult man in Massachusetts
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LOS ANGELES — United States confirms case of monkey pox on Wednesday (18/5/2022), the country’s first identified rare case of the virus this year. The infection was discovered in an adult male in Massachusetts who had recently traveled to Canada. Local health officials said the case was “no risk to the community.”
Authorities said initial testing had been completed on Tuesday and a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) laboratory late Wednesday confirmed the infection as monkeypox. CDC scientists are coordinating with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to investigate the monkeypox case.
The CDC said it was also tracking a number of monkeypox clusters reported in the past two weeks in countries such as Portugal, Spain and the UK. The CDC also asks health care providers in the country to be on the lookout for patients who develop monkeypox-like symptoms, regardless of whether they have a specific travel history or specific risk factors.
Monkeypox is a sylvatic zoonosis that causes infection in humans and the disease usually occurs in forest areas of West and Central Africa. The disease is caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the Orthopoxvirus family, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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