DANE COUNTY, Wis.— The Wisconsin Department of Health Services identified the first confirmed case of orthopoxvirus, presumed to be monkeypox, in Wisconsin on June 30.
Wisconsin DHS said the patient is isolating and the risk is low for the general public. The patient is a resident of Dane County.
“The number of monkeypox cases continues to rise in the U.S., so it is not a surprise that monkeypox has now been detected in Wisconsin,” said Dr. Ryan Westergaard, Wisconsin DHS' chief medical officer. “While it’s likely that additional cases will be found among Wisconsinites, we are relieved that this disease does not spread easily from person to person. We’d like for all clinicians to remain alert to patients with compatible rashes and encourage them to test for monkeypox. We want the public to know that the risk of widespread transmission remains low.”
As of June 30, there have been 396 confirmed monkeypox and orthopoxvirus cases nationwide.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. It’s part of the same family as smallpox. While symptoms may be similar, they are milder than smallpox and monkeypox is rarely fatal.
Symptoms include:
- Fever
- Headache
- Muscle aches and backache
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Chills
- Exhaustion
- A rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appears on the face, inside the mouth and on other parts of the body, such as the hands, feet, chest, genitals or anus. The rash goes through different stages before healing completely
Most infections last two to four weeks. It’s transmitted person to person through direct skin-to-skin contact, having contact with an infectious rash, through body fluids, through respiratory secretions, or by inhaling large respiratory droplets or through close contact with body fluids and lesions, as well as bedding and other contaminated materials.
The CDC recommended anyone who has a rash that resembles monkeypox speak to their health care provider.
The CDC director said the overall risk for people in the U.S. to be infected with the virus is low. Officials said there is no evidence of monkeypox spreading through American communities, but they’re continuing to closely monitor contact tracing.