The Connection

According to the report from the Virginia Department of Health:

The patient is an adult female resident of Northern Virginia with recent travel history to an African country where the disease is known to occur. She was not infectious during travel. She did not require hospitalization and is isolating at home to monitor her health. To protect patient privacy, no further information will be provided. The health department is identifying and monitoring the patient’s close contacts. No additional cases have been detected in Virginia at this time.

“Monkeypox is a very rare disease in the United States,” said State Health Commissioner Colin M. Greene, MD, MPH. “The patient is currently isolating and does not pose a risk to the public. … Transmission requires close contact with someone with symptomatic monkeypox, and this virus has not shown the ability to spread rapidly in the general population. VDH is monitoring national and international trends and has notified medical providers in Virginia to watch for monkeypox cases and report them to their local health district as soon as possible. Based on the limited information currently available about the evolving multi-country outbreak, the risk to the public appears to be very low.”

Although rare, monkeypox is a potentially serious viral illness that is transmitted when someone has close contact with an infected person or animal. Person-to-person spread occurs with prolonged close contact or with direct contact with body fluids or contact with contaminated materials such as clothing or linens. The illness typically begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion and swelling of the lymph nodes. After a few days, a specific type of rash appears, often starting on the face and then spreading to other parts of the body. Symptoms generally appear seven to 14 days after exposure and, for most people, clear up within two to four weeks. Some people can have severe illness and die. As with many viral illnesses, treatment mainly involves supportive care and relief of symptoms. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/clinicians/clinical-recognition.html

Virginia Department of Health advises that if you are sick and have symptoms consistent with monkeypox, you should seek medical care from your healthcare provider, especially if you are in one of the following groups:

• Those who traveled to central or west African countries, or parts of Europe where monkeypox cases have been reported, or other areas with confirmed cases of monkeypox during the month before their symptoms began,

• Those who have had contact with a person with confirmed or suspected monkeypox, or

• Men who regularly have close or intimate contact with other men.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2022-DON385

If you need to seek care, call your healthcare provider first, according to the Department of Health. Let them know you are concerned about possible monkeypox infection so they can take precautions to ensure that others are not exposed.