PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia has its first probable case of monkeypox. The city’s Department of Public Health says tests are pending on the Philadelphia resident.
A health care provider contacted the city’s health department with suspicions that a patient might have the monkeypox virus, said communicable disease program manager Dana Perella. Results came back positive from the state lab, but officials are waiting for confirmation from the CDC.
Meanwhile, they are trying to figure out how the person was exposed and who they might have exposed, in turn, since they were first infected, so they can alert those contacts directly.
No information about the patient has been shared publicly, including how they were exposed, out of privacy considerations, but officials say the person sought treatment promptly, which is key to preventing spread. Health officials are reaching out to everyone the patient may have come in contact with, in an effort to prevent it from spreading.
"This prompt identification, and identification of close contacts, works really well for monkeypox, because we’re dealing with a longer 'incubation' period, which is the time frame when someone’s exposed to when they have symptoms,” Perella said.
She stressed that treatments and vaccines are available to prevent or lessen the severity of the illness, so residents should not be fearful. Officials have been assuring residents that the risk of spread is extremely low. She says COVID-19 is still a bigger risk, and monkeypox is nothing like COVID-19.
“We’re dealing with a different animal here. We have some medical countermeasures available. We also will potentially have access to vaccine that we didn’t with COVID in the beginning.”
Monkeypox is a viral disease that is usually found in Central and West Africa.