SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Officials have detected a fourth likely case of monkeypox in Sacramento County, the local health office announced Monday, and if confirmed, it would be the sixth case of the virus in California since May 24..
“Public Health has identified a fourth presumptive Monkeypox case through contact tracing,” Sacramento County health spokeswoman Samantha Mott said in an emailed statement.
The three previous monkeypox cases in the county have been confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. County health officials said the specimen for the “presumptive” fourth case has been sent to a CDC lab for testing.
“This is an active investigation and contact tracing is ongoing,” county health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said in a statement. “The risk to the general public remains low.”
County health officials did not specify whether the fourth case was a close contact of the first, second or third case identified in the county.
“We have a small number that we’re dealing with, and we have to maintain confidentiality,” Kasirye said in a call with reporters Monday morning.
The first patient had recently traveled to Europe, and the second and third cases were identified as close contacts of that patient, county officials said in previous statements.
Kasirye said the latest presumptive case returned positive for orthopox virus, which is a subfamily of viruses that includes monkeypox and smallpox, on Friday.
All four Sacramento-area cases have mild symptoms and are isolating at home, the health officer said.
The CDC as of an update last Friday had confirmed 25 cases of monkeypox across a dozen states, with California and New York leading the U.S. at five cases each, followed by Florida with three.
Los Angeles County on Thursday reported its first presumptive positive case of monkeypox, and San Francisco on Friday reported its first. Los Angeles health officials said the presumptive positive had close contact with a known case, and San Francisco officials said that case had recently traveled “to a location with an outbreak in cases.”
Kasirye said all four Sacramento County cases found so far are “epi-linked,” meaning they were close contacts of an existing case or recently traveled to a region with an outbreak.
California health officials have not yet recorded community spread, meaning a case without close contact to another known case or recent travel.
Spread of monkeypox is linked to prolonged, skin-to-skin exposure, according to experts.
Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion. The patient typically develops a rash, often beginning on the face then spreading to other parts of the body, normally about one to three days after fever.
The incubation period is one to two weeks but can range up to three weeks, and the illness typically lasts two to four weeks, according to the county news release.
Kasirye said the contact tracing process “starts over again” each time a new presumptive case is identified.
“It will be at least three weeks of no additional cases before we can close this,” Kasirye said of monkeypox spread in Sacramento County, with that amount of time marking the high end of the incubation period.
Doctors and public health officials urge residents to practice safe sex to limit exposure to the virus. These practices may include abstaining from sex, practicing monogamy and using condoms during sex.
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