Ohio Identifies 1st Monkeypox Case; Sample Sent To CDC To Confirm

COLUMBUS — Ohio has identified its first monkeypox case, but officials insist the threat to the public remains low.

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the state Department of Health, announced Monday that an Ohio man is likely the state's first monkeypox case based on preliminary tests. A sample was sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation.

State health officials are working closely with the CDC, local health boards and the man's health care providers to ensure he receives appropriate care, health officials said in a news release. He remains isolated and is following recommendations from public health officials and medical providers.

“What I want to emphasize strongly is that monkeypox does not spread easily between people, and so the risk to Ohioans generally is very low,” Vanderhoff said in a statement.

While the coronavirus can easily spread between people through the air over several feet, monkeypox mainly spreads through direct contact with infectious sores, scabs, or body fluids. It can also spread through breathing secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact or during intimate contact between people. This includes during sex, as well as when people kiss, cuddle, or touch body parts with monkeypox sores.

Anyone experiencing symptoms of an unexplained rash (lesions on any part of the body) should immediately contact a health care provider.

Monkeypox is a viral illness that typically begins with flu-like symptoms and swelling of the lymph nodes and progresses to a rash. Cases recently identified across the country appear less likely to have the initial symptoms of flu-like illness or lymph node swelling and the rash, which may look like pimples or blisters.

Anyone can get monkeypox, though most cases associated with the investigation in the United States have occurred among men who have sex with men, state health officials said.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said they'll convene an emergency committee of experts to determine if the expanding monkeypox outbreak that has mysteriously spread outside Africa should be considered a global health emergency. He decided to convene the emergency committee June 23 because the virus has shown "unusual" recent behavior by spreading in countries well beyond parts of Africa, where it is endemic, The Associated Press reported.

"We believe that it needs also some coordinated response because of the geographic spread," he told reporters, according to AP.

Declaring monkeypox an international health emergency would give it the same designation as the COVID-19 pandemic. It would mean WHO considers the normally rare disease a continuing threat to countries globally.

The U.K. said Monday it had 470 cases of monkeypox, with the vast majority in gay or bisexual men.

The U.N. health agency does not recommend mass vaccination, but advises the "judicious" use of vaccines. It said controlling the disease relies primarily on measures like surveillance, tracking cases and isolating patients.

Last month, a leading adviser to the World Health Organization said the outbreak in Europe and beyond was likely spread by sex at two recent raves in Spain and Belgium.

Tedros said more than 1,600 cases and nearly 1,500 suspected cases have been reported this year in 39 countries, including seven where monkeypox has been reported for years. A total of 72 deaths have been reported, though none in the newly affected countries, including Britain, Canada, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United States.

The ongoing outbreak of monkeypox in Europe and elsewhere marks the first time the disease has been known to spread among people who have no travel links to Africa.