The first infection with a virus from the family that includes monkeypox has been reported in the District, city officials said.
The resident is isolating and “does not pose a risk to the public,” the D.C. Department of Health said.
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The case of orthopox, the family of viruses that includes monkeypox, was reported Saturday in someone who said they had recently traveled to Europe, according to the department.
The samples that were collected have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further testing and confirmation of the monkeypox virus, the Health Department said.
During a news conference Monday, Thomas Farley, D.C. Health’s senior deputy director of community health administration, said the District’s possible monkeypox case was not surprising.
“We know that this is an outbreak that is occurring in Europe and the United States. With more attention to this more people will be identified, so we expected that sooner or later we would have a case and we now do have one.”
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There have been two other suspected cases that were tested in the D.C. Health Department’s laboratory, but those tests were negative for orthopox, Farley said. The suspected monkeypox case reported Sunday was the first to test positive in the local lab. Further confirmation of a monkeypox infection will be done by the CDC, probably within days, Farley said.
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Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with bodily fluids or monkeypox lesions. It is difficult to transmit and easier to contain than viruses such as the coronavirus.
Monkeypox rarely is fatal, and because of its similarities to smallpox, it can be treated with antivirals and vaccines stockpiled in the event of a smallpox outbreak. Vaccines can be administered shortly after exposure to prevent serious illness.
There are 25 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States, the city’s Health Department said.
It was not immediately clear how likely it was that any orthopox infection would be monkeypox.