KANSAS CITY – Missouri health officials have issued an emergency order -- putting the Monkeypox virus on par with other communicable diseases such as cholera, polio and measles.
This comes as the Jackson County Health Department announced Wednesday the first probable case of monkeypox in an eastern Jackson County resident, the second presumed case in the county in the Kansas City Metro.
The Kansas City Star reports, as of Tuesday, there are at least 24 monkeypox cases in Missouri - up from 18 a week ago - and three in Kansas. At least four of those cases are in the Kansas City Metro.
Jackson Co. health officials said additional testing at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pending, and results are expected in the coming days.
"Initial testing for orthopoxvirus, the genus of viruses that includes monkeypox and smallpox, was completed at the Missouri State Public Health Lab," said Bridgette Shaffer, Jackson County Health Department director in a news release. "Based on the individual's symptoms and positive orthopoxvirus result from the state laboratory, we're considering this a probable monkeypox case and are taking action to identify and vaccinate contacts."
The Jackson County Health Department communicable disease team has provided isolation guidance to the patient. The team has contacted all persons who may have been in contact with the patient while they were infectious, and those contacts have been offered post-exposure vaccination to help stop the spread of the disease.
"The threat to eastern Jackson County residents is low at this time," Shaffer said.
The state announcement is hoped to help stem the spread of the virus and means any cases of monkeypox must be reported to state or local health authorities within one day of detection.
As monkeypox continues spreading, doctors are clarifying that it's not an STD — rather, some are calling it "sexually associated," since there are other ways it can be spread.
The virus can also be spread through saliva or respiratory secretions — and rarely, from contaminated objects like bedsheets, towels or utensils.