US reports two mpox cases, patients had no travel history: What is mpox? What are its symptoms? Explained

2 months ago 7

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Two cases of a more severe case of mpox have been reported in California in the United States, the first of its kind in people who have no recent travel history.

Officials at the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the first case earlier this week after running lab tests at a state lab.

The second case was confirmed in Los Angeles, where county officials reported a similar patient.

“We are taking this very seriously and ensuring our community and health care partners remain vigilant so we can prevent any more cases,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a press release. "This underscores the importance of continued surveillance, early response and vaccination," he added.

Officials further said that the risk of spreading to the public remains low.

Mpox cases in California

Mpox has two variants — clade I and clade II. Both the patients have been identified with the clade I variant of mpox, and that too a more severe strain of it.

While this is not the first time of clade I mpox cases have been identified in the US, the recent cases are the only ones where the patients did not have a recent travel history. All six other cases were among international travellers who were believed to have been infected abroad.

The patients had to be hospitalised following their diagnosis and are now recovering at home.

Officials refused to give any details of the patients. Long Beach health department acting public affairs officer Jennifer Ann Gonzalez said that “at this point in our investigations, we have not identified any association between the two cases”.

Long Beach is located in Los Angeles County but has its own city health department. Investigators there say they have not found a close contact who travelled abroad, nor have they confirmed additional mpox cases. A few of the person's close contacts have been given a vaccine, said Nora Balanji, the Long Beach department’s communicable disease coordinator.

“We don’t have any proof that there has been ongoing community transmission,” she said. "It’s something we’re looking into. That’s something we’re concerned about."

What is mpox? What are its symptoms?

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus, according to the World Health Organization.

There are two distinct clades of the virus: clade I (with subclades Ia and Ib) and clade II (with subclades IIa and IIb). In 2022–2023 a global outbreak of mpox was caused by the clade IIb strain.

Common symptoms of mpox include: