New York City patient tests positive for virus related to monkeypox with officials urging people to wear masks - The Independent

Patient is presumed to be positive ahead of CDC confirmation, likely making them the second confirmed case on US soil this year.

A patient in New York City has tested positive for a virus related to monkeypox, sparking health officials to call on Covid-weary Americans to wear face masks indoors as the US rushes to buy 13 million vaccine doses.

Two patients had been tested by the city’s health department for monkeypox – a rare infection causing rashes, lesions and fevers which has suddenly emerged in several countries in recent weeks.

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Public Health Lab said in a press release on Friday that final confirmation on the individual’s diagnosis will come after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) completes its testing.

Until then, the patient is in isolation and is presumed to be positive, likely making them the second known case on US soil this year after a man in Massachusetts became the first confirmed case on Wednesday.

New York’s health department revealed on Thursday that one possible case had been admitted to Bellevue Hospital, in the heart of Manhattan, displaying symptoms.

The entrance to Massachusetts General Hospital, where the first confirmed US patient is being treated for monkeypox.

This comes after a Massachusetts man became the first confirmed case on US soil this year.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced the case in the man who had recently returned from a trip to Canada, where he had travelled in private transport, on Wednesday.

In 2003, cases of human monkeypox were detected on US soil – the first confirmed outside of Africa – when the nation witnessed an outbreak across six states.

In total, 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Last year, two cases of the infection were reported in the US.

The hand of a patient with the rare infection monkeypox

The entrance to Massachusetts General Hospital, where the first confirmed US patient is being treated for monkeypox