LIMA — Allen County Public Health has identified the county’s first probable case of monkeypox, the health department reported Friday.
There have been 38 cases of monkeypox in Ohio thus far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has identified 7,100 cases of the rare disease in the U.S. this year.
The first probable case in Ohio was reported in June, though Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said at the time that “monkeypox does not easily spread between people, so the risk to Ohioans is generally very low.”
The White House declared monkeypox a public health emergency Thursday.
Monkeypox is primarily spread through close contact like sexual intercourse, kissing and hugging a person who has monkeypox. But the virus may also be spread by touching contaminated surfaces like bedding or towels used during sex or prolonged face-to-face contact, according to the CDC.
Pregnant people infected with monkeypox are at risk of sharing the virus with their fetus through the placenta too, according to the CDC.
The virus typically causes a rash, which may become painful, three weeks after exposure. But in some cases, a person may also develop flu-like symptoms before or after the rash starts, according to the CDC.
The CDC estimates that illness may last anywhere from two to four weeks, while an infected person may spread the virus from the moment symptoms start until their rash has completely healed.
Allen County Public Health on Friday reported that anyone with a new or unexplained rash or other symptoms associated with monkeypox should avoid close contact with others, including sex, until they have been evaluated for monkeypox.
How monkeypox spreads:
Monkeypox can spread to anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact. That includes:
• Direct contact with monkeypox rash, scabs or bodily fluids from a person with monkeypox.
• Touching objects, fabrics—like clothing, bedding or towels—and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox.
• Contact with respiratory secretions.
Direct contact can happen during intimate relations like:
• Oral, anal and vaginal sex or touching the genitals or anus of a person with monkeypox.
• Hugging, massaging or kissing a person with monkeypox.
• Prolonged face-to-face contact.
• Touching fabrics and objects during sex that were used by a person with monkeypox and that have not been disinfected.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Symptoms:
• Monkeypox may cause a rash on or near the genitals or anus, as well as other parts of the body like the hands, feet, chest, face and mouth, which will start as pimples or blisters that turn to scabs before healing. The rash may be painful.
• Flu-like symptoms like fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches, headaches, sore throat, nasal congestion or cough may also develop before or after the rash.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
