Well, it was only a matter of time.
It seems as though monkeypox has now reached Missouri, with a person in Kansas City having been reported as a “probable” case by the the Kansas City Health Department and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Monkeypox is a virus in the same family of viruses as smallpox. It is not related to chickenpox.
Testing was completed on Saturday and officials now await the results from the Centers for Disease Control. The patient had
recently traveled out-of-state. Health officials are attempting to track down people the patient has been in contact with to notify them of possible exposure.
“This week, one of our excellent nurses suspected one of our patients may have monkeypox virus,”
said Dr. Marvia Jones, the director of the Kansas City Health Department. “We are considering this a probable case of monkeypox virus until we receive final confirmation from the CDC labs. We appreciate the work our disease investigation and nursing staff have done to educate themselves on this rare virus and be on alert for it.”
As of Friday, June 17, the CDC has reported confirmed monkeypox cases
in 20 other states and in Washington, D.C., bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 111.
