New York — NEW YORK (AP) — Two Californians diagnosed with smallpox may be the first U.S. cases resulting from the local spread of a different version of the virus, health officials said.
The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services this week confirmed the first case through testing at a state lab. Los Angeles County health officials on Thursday reported a second similar case.
Officials say the risk to the public is low.
These are not the first cases in the United States of what is known as clade I mpox. But all six previous cases were among international travelers believed to have been infected abroad.
Both people infected in California were hospitalized and are now recovering at home. Officials declined to provide further details.
Long Beach is located in Los Angeles County but has its own city health department. Investigators there say they have not found any close contacts who traveled abroad, and have not confirmed additional cases. Nora Palangi, infectious disease coordinator for the Long Beach division, said a small number of people who were in close contact with the person have been vaccinated.
“We have no evidence that there is ongoing transmission of the virus in the community,” she said. “It’s something we’re looking into. This is something we’re concerned about.”
Mbox Monkeypox – also known as monkeypox – is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that belongs to the same family as the virus that causes smallpox. It is endemic to parts of Africa.
Milder symptoms can include fever, chills, and body aches. In more serious cases, people can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest, and genitals.
One version of the virus — called clade II — was the source of an international health crisis in 2022, when infections surged in dozens of countries, mostly among men who have sex with men. At some point, the United States It was average Nearly 500 cases daily.
The infection was rarely fatal, but many people experienced painful skin lesions for weeks. Those outbreaks have diminished Later that yearThis is thanks in part to the Genius vaccine made by Bavaria Nordic.
The other version – known as the first branch – can also be spread through sex, but also through other forms of contact. In Africa, the disease affects a wide range of people, including children.
A newer form of Clade I virus has been widely transmitted in East and Central Africa. The World Health Organization declared the situation a public health emergency, but last month said it was the problem It has diminished enough It is no longer an international emergency.
However, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, said, “It is concerning whether this virus has gotten here and is now starting to spread from person to person.”
The situation report comes amid a federal government shutdown and layoffs of hundreds of employees at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the agency usually involved in the response.
Palangi said a few CDC experts were available to talk with her administration about the situation. But Schaffner noted that “the longer the lockdown lasts, the weaker the public health responses to any outbreak will be.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services referred questions to local health officials.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.