SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Sacramento County public health officials are investigating a “likely” case of monkeypox virus related to travel in Europe, officials announced Tuesday morning. If confirmed, this would be California’s first monkeypox case.
A health provider alerted the county about the suspected case on May 21 and on Monday local health officials got the results of a preliminary PCR test that was a match for orthopoxvirus, the family of viruses that includes monkeypox, Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said.
The patient still needs confirmation testing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a California Department of Public Health lab in Richmond, but officials say monkeypox confirmation is likely based on symptoms.
The person is isolated at home, and officials said the risk to the general public is “extremely low.”
The latest World Health Organization update confirms 131 worldwide cases of monkeypox, and 106 other suspected cases of the virus — covering 19 countries.
The WHO characterizes this level of outbreak as unusual, but also “containable,” adding the U.N. health agency would soon conduct more informational meetings on how to tackle infections.
Tuesday’s “131” update coincides with a published report from last Friday, alluding to the 80 confirmed cases of monkeypox, and roughly 50 “presumptive” cases still requiring the documentation of a national body, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Monkeypox symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes chills, and exhaustion. The patient can also develop a rash days later that often begins in the face and spreads to other parts of the body. It can cause lesions. The illness can last anywhere from two to four weeks. Some people only develop the rash as their first symptom, Kasirye said.
Kasirye said that monkeypox “is not as transmissible as COVID” and all cases so far have been “mild.”
