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First Nebraska case of monkeypox identified, in Douglas County

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First Nebraska case of monkeypox identified, in Douglas County

Jun 27, 2022 | 3:17 pm ET
By Cindy Gonzalez
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First Nebraska case of monkeypox identified, in Douglas County
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In this Centers for Disease Control and Prevention handout graphic, symptoms of one of the first known cases of the monkeypox virus are shown on a patient's hand May 27, 2003. (Courtesy of CDC/Getty Images)

OMAHA — Nebraska has identified its first case of monkeypox, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and Douglas County Health Department reported Monday.

The agencies said the state public health laboratory identified a positive orthopoxvirus test taken by a state resident, a male in his 30s with recent international travel.

The specimen is expected to be confirmed as monkeypox by followup testing by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a media release said. DHHS is working with the county and the CDC to investigate potential exposures and is to notify those individuals if any exposures are identified.

“As monkeypox infections are increasingly identified throughout the U.S. and the world, it’s critical we continue searching for it here in Nebraska,” said Dr. Matthew Donahue, Nebraska’s epidemiologist. “Monkeypox is spread through close contact with someone who has a characteristic rash. Nebraskans should be aware of the rash’s appearance, and we need individuals with that characteristic rash to talk to their health care providers so we can help arrange testing.”

The agencies said that monkeypox is not a traditional sexually transmitted infection but can be transmitted through prolonged physical contact, such as sexual intimacy. They said that, currently, the outbreak is disproportionately affecting gay and bisexual men who are sexually active. However, anyone with prolonged physical contact with someone who has monkeypox is at risk. 

Symptoms include a rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appear on the genitals, anus, face, inside of the mouth and on other parts of the body like hands, feet or chest. The rash goes through different stages before healing, the release said. Other symptoms include fever, headache, backache, muscle aches, chills and, exhaustion.

DHHS named measures that can help prevent infection:

  • Avoid close contact with the skin of someone with the characteristic rash.
  • Avoid contact with animals that could harbor the virus.
  • Avoid contact with materials, such as bedding, that has been in contact with a sick animal.
  • Isolate infected patients from others who could be at risk for infection.
  • Practice good hand hygiene after contact with infected animals or humans. 
  • Use personal protective equipment when caring for a patient.

Nebraska Medicine calls monkeypox a very rare disease that’s normally linked to travel in West and Central Africa. It’s called monkeypox because it was first discovered in 1958 when colonies of monkeys kept for research developed a pox- like disease.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently investigating clusters of the disease that typically don’t report monkeypox, including in the U.S.

The World Health Organization says monkeypox is usually a “self-limited disease,” with symptoms lasting two to four weeks. Severe cases can occur, it said. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 3% to 6%.