Two people in California were infected with a potentially more deadly strain of Mpox acquired in the United States.
Los Angeles The county health department confirmed this week that two unidentified county residents have tested positive for Mpox Clade I, which kills up to one in 10 people it infects.
The people had not traveled outside the US to high-risk areas such as East Africa, meaning they became infected locally. This is the first time Clade I has been purchased in the United States.
The first case, reported Tuesday, was in a resident of nearby Long Beach, and the second, reported Thursday, was in a Los Angeles County resident.
Both patients were hospitalized but are now recovering at home, health officials said. No additional details were disclosed.
The Clade I strain is more serious than the Clade II strain, which is currently circulating in the United States and caused an outbreak in 2022. Clade II has a fatality rate of less than three percent and has killed 63 Americans since the 2022 outbreak.
Clade I, which has a fatality rate of up to 10 percent, spreads more easily, “including through close personal contact” such as massage, hugging and sex, health officials said.
According to the CDC, six cases of Mpox type I infection have been reported in the United States among people who traveled to areas associated with outbreaks in central and eastern Africa, including A California resident became infected in November last year.. The agency said none of the cases are related to each other.
The image above from 2024 shows a patient from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) infected with Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox.
The California man had a mild illness last year, San Mateo County officials said at the time.
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement: “While the overall risk… of exposure to the public remains low, we are taking this very seriously.
“This highlights the importance of ongoing surveillance, early response and vaccination.”
Cases of Clade I Mpox in Africa are not closely monitored, but the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that at the end of 2024 there were almost 40,000 suspected cases in Central and Eastern Africa, namely the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Formerly known as monkeypox, Mpox is spread through close, intimate contact, such as through bodily fluids, sores, sharing bedding or clothing, kissing, sex, coughing or sneezing.
Symptoms “include a rash or unusual sores that look like pimples or pus-filled blisters on the face, body or genitals, fever, chills, headache, muscle aches or swollen lymph nodes,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said.
The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services advised avoiding sex and intimate contact and seeking immediate medical attention if a person develops an “unexplained rash or lesion.”
The image above shows Mpox particles in red inside an infected cell (blue).
In the DRC, CDC officials said transmission occurred through “contact with infected dead or live wild animals” and “household contact, often involving crowded households,” as well as sexual contact.
Most patients recover on their own, although antiviral treatment “may be considered for those with severe disease or at risk of developing it,” the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services said.
Anyone in the United States who suspects they have been exposed to Mpox in the past 14 days or have certain sexual risk factors, such as gay or bisexual men, can receive two doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine to prevent infection.
People with HIV or who are immunocompromised are also eligible.
