A man in Iowa is infected with the state’s first monkeypox case as the virus continues to spread across the globe.
The man likely contracted the disease while traveling abroad, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. He is currently in isolation while health officials begin contact tracing to track possible exposure to other individuals.
To date, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that there are more than 3,300 cases of monkeypox in 42 countries. Meanwhile, Africa has already seen more than 1,400 cases this year, including 62 deaths.
Symptoms appear one to two weeks after infection and initially include mostly flu-like symptoms such as fever, headaches, and shortness of breath. Unlike smallpox, monkeypox also causes lymph nodes to swell.
Health experts said the virus may have been spreading out of Africa undetected for years under the guise of sexually transmitted diseases.
“What’s likely happened is an endemic infectious disease from Africa found its way into a social and sexual network and then was greatly aided by major amplification events, like raves in Belgium, to disseminate around the world,” Dr. Amesh Adalja told reporters.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the current outbreak of monkeypox is “moderate” and also said the number of cases “is likely to be underestimated.”
“The overall risk is assessed as moderate at [the] global level considering this is the first time that cases and clusters are reported concurrently in five WHO Regions,” the WHO said. “At the regional level, the risk is considered to be high in the European Region due to its report of a geographically widespread outbreak involving several newly-affected countries, as well as a somewhat atypical clinical presentation of cases.”
While no monkeypox-related deaths have been reported, the medical community is baffled by the worldwide phenomenon.
“I’m stunned by this. Every day I wake up and there are more countries infected,” said Oyewali Tomori, a virologist and WHO advisory board member. “This is not the kind of spread we’ve seen in West Africa, so there may be something new happening in the West.”
