Health officials said Saturday they have confirmed the first case in the United States of a new type of smallpox that first emerged in eastern Congo.
The person had traveled to East Africa and was treated in Northern California upon his return, according to the California Department of Public Health. Symptoms are improving and the risk to the public is low.
The state health department said the person was isolated at home and health workers were reaching out to close contacts as a precaution.
Smallpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that belongs to the same family as the virus that causes smallpox. It is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have become infected through bites from rodents or small animals. Milder symptoms can include fever, chills, and body aches. In more serious cases, people can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest, and genitals.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of smallpox in Africa that spreads through close contact, including through sex. It has spread widely in East and Central Africa. But in cases identified in travelers outside the continent, the spread has been very limited, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 3,100 confirmed cases have been reported since late September, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of them were in three African countries – Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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Since then, cases of travelers infected with the new smallpox variant have been reported in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom.
Health officials said earlier this month that the situation in Congo appeared to be stabilizing. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that Congo needs at least 3 million smallpox vaccines to stop the spread of the disease, and another seven million vaccines for the rest of Africa. Spread is mostly through sexual transmission as well as through close contact between children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.
The current outbreak differs from the 2022 global smallpox outbreak, in which gay and bisexual men accounted for the vast majority of cases.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
