NEW: The rare but potentially serious virus monkeypox has been confirmed in Massachusetts, health officials say, in a man who recently traveled from Canada.
Massachusetts General Hospital said the patient had been admitted there; the Boston hospital planned to hold a briefing Wednesday night on the virus and safety measures its staff was taking.
Signs of a monkeypox infection include flu-like symptoms and lymph node swelling, then a rash that can begin on one part of the body and then spread, health officials say. The infection can last two to four weeks and may be confused with sexually transmitted disease like herpes or with chickenpox. The monkeypox virus is related to the one that causes smallpox, but health officials noted that transmission between people is difficult -- it travels through bodily fluids, sores, items contaminated with fluids or sores or prolonged face-to-face contact. The cases in the U.K. were all in men who have sex with men, according to the Massachusetts Department of Health.
Citing the recent cases in the U.S. and U.K., the agency urged doctors to consider a monkeypox diagnosis in people with an unexplained rash and either recent travel to a place where monkeypox has been detected, contact with someone who has or suspects they have the virus or in men who have sex with other men.. The first human case was discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970 while officials were pushing to eradicate smallpox.
In that outbreak, the people in the U.S. were infected via pet prairie dogs that had been exposed to monkeypox by small mammals imported from Ghana, the CDC said. The smallpox vaccine was part of the effort to contain that outbreak.
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