First case of monkeypox confirmed in Louisiana, health officials say | Health care/Hospitals

The Louisiana Department of Health on Thursday reported the state’s first confirmed case of monkeypoxan infectious disease similar to smallpox that has raised alarms as an outbreak has reached over 30 states since spring.

The case is in an individual from Region 1, which includes Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard Parish. In addition, an out-of-state resident visiting Louisiana also tested positive for the virus.

Although these are Louisiana’s first identified cases, it’s likely monkeypox has been present in the state for some time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified over 605 cases across the US

“The widely held belief is that there is more monkeypox circulating in this country than has been formally identified and diagnosed,” said Dr. Joe Kanter, state health officer.

Risk remains low; experts urgent precautions

Although the outbreak has raised concerns, the risk to the general public is low. Monkeypox does not transmit as easily as other viruses, such as measles or COVID-19. Transmission typically requires close exposure or contact with sores or other bodily fluids.

People who get this strain of monkeypox are unlikely to die, and there have been zero deaths in the US during this outbreak. But severe cases do happen, and 73 people in Africa have died of monkeypox this year.

“It’s very rare, next to unheard of, to have a fatality in a highly developed and advanced medical system like in the US,” said Kanter. “It doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”

People with weakened immune systems, children under 8 years of age, people with a history of eczema, and people who are pregnant or breastfeeding are at a higher risk of serious illness.

Differing symptoms

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and a rash that can look pimple- or blister-like. They can be painful, and the rash may cause permanent scarring.

But symptoms are also appearing differently in some infected individuals in the US, which have mostly been identified in men who have sex with men.

“If you go right now and Google monkeypox, what you’re likely to see is pictures of individuals from West and Central Africa covered in very frightening-looking lesions,” said Kanter. “That’s not how most of the cases in this domestic outbreak are presenting.”

The blister-like lesions in this outbreak are sometimes limited to one part of the body, which is oftentimes the genitals, said Kanter. And many infected individuals do not have a fever.

The isolated location of the pustular lesions may have caused confusion as to whether monkeypox was another disease, said Dr. Julio Figueroa, chief of infectious disease at LSU Health New Orleans.

“We have a pretty high sexually transmitted infection rates here, and we didn’t really have access to the test,” said Figueroa.

Approximately 30 to 40 total monkeypox tests have been given in the state. State officials expect more test availability as large national labs offer testing.

There is also some emerging evidence that individuals may be asymptomatic with an infection, though it’s not clear if those people are can spread the virus, said Patricia Kissinger, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Tulane University. There is still a lot to learn about the current outbreak, she said.

“There shouldn’t be fear and panic,” said Kissinger. “But we do need to take precautions.”

Those precautions include standard infection prevention like hand washing and avoiding the rash of infected people. Infection can also be transmitted through bedding or sharing utensils, according to the CDC. Once a lesion is crusted over, it is still capable of transmitting infection, said Figueroa.

Gay and bisexual men should take extra precautions because it appears to be circulating most in those communities, said Kissinger. Still, anyone can be infected.

A winding supply of 20 vaccine doses

Louisiana has identified between 15 to 20 close contacts of infected individuals and delivered 5 to 10 smallpox vaccines to those individuals deemed at higher risk, said Theresa Sokol, state epidemiologist.

The smallpox vaccine is thought to prevent illness from monkeypox altogether if given within four days of exposure and to reduce symptoms if delivered between 5 and 14 days. Monkeypox is a cousin of the smallpox virus, which is why the vaccine is effective for both.

Louisiana initially received 20 vaccines from the federal government, which has a limited supply of the two drugs approved to prevent smallpox. The CDC will allocate more vaccines to states on Friday.

Although much of the older population in the US received the smallpox vaccine, it’s “unclear” if that protection would last for decades, said Figueroa, though there may be “some element of protection.”