The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has identified a second case of presumed monkeypox infection in Los Angeles County.
The patient is an adult resident who has history of recent travel. They are symptomatic but doing well and isolating away from others.
Public Health is continuing to investigate and conduct contact tracing and post-exposure prevention for close contacts.
The risk of monkeypox in the general population remains very low.
For more information, please visit: http://ph.lacounty.gov/media/
About Monkeypox:
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. It is usually found in Central and West Africa and does not occur naturally in the US. However, multiple cases of monkeypox have recently been reported in several countries that don’t normally report monkeypox, including the United States.
Monkeypox is spread when a person comes into contact with an animal or human with the virus or through contact with materials (like clothing or linens) used by the infected person or prolonged exposure to respiratory droplets. The virus typically enters the body through broken skin, respiratory droplets, or the mucous membranes (eyes, nose, or mouth). Because of this, transmission may also occur during sex through skin-to-skin and other intimate contact.
Early signs may include fever, malaise (a general feeling of discomfort), headache, swollen lymph nodes, and sometimes cough or sore throat. Other symptoms include muscle aches, backache, chills, and exhaustion, followed by a rash that typically begins on the face and spreads to other parts of the body. Infections can last two to four weeks. And some just develop a rash with or without swollen lymph nodes, which can occur on the genitals.
For more information on monkeypox, please see our FAQs: http://publichealth.lacounty.
